Daily life AS a Monster Girl!
by Touhoufanatic
Summary: Kurusu Kimihito has it pretty rough with all the liminals living in his house, but things get even more complicated when he catches a new disease spreading around. now he wont' have to just deal with living with the monster girls, he'll have to live, AS ONE! Rated M for safety and potential Future Lemons.
1. CH1 - Catching problems

**Authors forward: so this fic kind of came to me while i was reading another monster musume fic, and i just couldn't help myself from writing it, so here it is. the updates for this one will be kind of random as I'll be doing between my two other primary fic, but it will be updated.**

 **Also I'd like to thank Natron77 for bet reading this first chapter. it was their fic i had been reading at the time of conceiving this story, so go check theirs out if you have time. its entirely yuri monster musume!**

 **now on with the show!**

Kurusu Kimihito Sat up in his bed and glanced around. Surprisingly there was no one in his bed like usual, as even with a deadbolt on his door each of them managed to find a way in one way or another. But somehow something felt off. His body felt cold despite the covers over him, so maybe he just needed to check the houses heating.

Deciding he'd check the heater before making breakfast Kimihito threw the covers off his body and got out of his bed. His pajamas felt strangely loose on his body, but he ignored it as he changed a quickly as he could.

"The faster I change the less likely I'll get mobbed by Miia." Kimihito said to himself with a pleasant sigh.

Throwing his shirt on last Kimihito looked at the clock on his wall and had to squint for a moment to make out the time in his sleepy state.

8:24

Kimihito sighed as he yawed and left his room. From the time not everyone would be up, so he'd be able to begin making breakfast for everyone reasonably fast for once.

Walking down the hall he only stopped once at the thermostat to check it," Hmm, its temperature is fine, even for Miia. I wonder if I'm coming down with something." Kimihito muttered to himself as he walked away from the thermostat and into the kitchen.

upon entering it he found Centorea and Rachnera sitting at their usual spots, Centorea slowly munching on what appeared to be a carrot, and Rachnera drinking something dark from a cup as she looked over a newspaper on the table.

"Morning Rachnee, Cerea." Kimihito said with another yawn as he walked over to the counter and pulled out the cutting board and knife. Just why was he so tired today?

"Morning master!" Cerea stated with a sharp, but small bow, noticing something was off with kimihito.

Rachnee nodded and took a sip of here drink, then looked up from the paper only when see poke her shoulder. "Morning, are you alright?" Rachnee asked in a slightly worried tone.

"Hmm, yeah I'm just a bit tired that's all." Kimihito stated as he opened up the fridge and found it bone dry, with only a bottle of juice, and a few carrots on the bottom. "Oh, the fridge is empty. Looks like I'll need to hit the store to make breakfast for everyone."

"Why is that, there's food in the fridge." Cerea stated calmly.

"I think he meant breakfast for everyone else, Centorea." Rachnee stated as she looked back at Kimihito. "You were saying you were going to go shopping today anyway, but are you sure you should go?"

"What do you mean Rachnee?" kimihito asked in confusion.

"You look pale."

Kimihito close the fridge and looked at himself I nit's surface. He hadn't had a chance to wash up before coming down, or had been too tired to care, but when he looked at himself in the fridge he noticed that he did look awfully pale. He still felt oddly tired as well, but there were no dark lines around his eyes oddly. "I might just be coming down with something, it's nothing" Kimihito stated as he sighed at the fridge. I need to get groceries, but breakfast comes first. I'll head out to the corner store and get some stuff, so I'll be back in a bit." Kimihito said as he began walking out of the kitchen.

"Ah, master if you are sick you should stay home and get better!" Cerea pleaded.

"It's not that big of a deal, I'll be fine." Kimihito said as he left the kitchen, leaving the two girls in it alone, with a newspaper that had its most important article yet unread.

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"I said I'd be fine." Kimihito said muttered as he walked down the streets. The weather was not cold and a light warm breeze blew through the streets, but he found himself shivering more and more. It was like his body was freezing from the inside out. "But maybe I am coming down with something; I'll but some cold medicine when I get the breakfast groceries."

The further he waked the harder it became to breath, and by the time he made it to the corner store In his area, he found he was almost hyperventilating, despite the store being only a five to ten minute walk away from his own home. Walking into the store he found the light made his eyes hurt, causing him to squint, but still managed to find everything he needed and made it to the register.

"Ah one moment please!" The clerk called as Kimihito stepped up to the register. He was busy organizing some papers, and from the looks of it, they were all over the place. Kimihito knew the clerk well though, and this sort of thing was normal, so he simply waited, and quickly had his attention drawn to the small TV In the corner that was on a news report.

 _Scientists, both Liminial and human have yet to understand what is causing this strange disease, and have also been unable to discern it's method of infection. Because of this all government groups are taking the situation very seriously so-_

"Quiet the predicament huh?" The clerk said as he finished organizing the papers and piled the stacks on the shelving below the counter.

"What, that disease thing? I haven't heard anything about it. Is it recent?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure what it does but it's been causing quite a stir and - . . . . . are you okay man?" The clerk asked as he turned around and slowly began ringing up Kimihito's groceries. "You look pale, and kind of thin, are you eating well?"

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired." Kimihito assured the clerk as he pulled out his debit card from his wallet, but fumbled it onto the counter. Trying to pick it up though his fingers were not quite working either.

"I think it's more than just that man." The clerk said as he picked up Kimihito's card and slid it into the reader for him. I'd suggest you hit the sack as soon as you get home."

"Uh, yeah, I think I might actually. You might be right." Kimihito said with a nod of his head that ended up being much heavier than he expected. His body was feeling strange, cold, tired, and now he felt like his muscles were turning to gum.

"Well just be sure that you do. You look like crap man." The clerk said as he handed Kimihito the two bags of groceries.

"Yeah, I- kind of feel like it too." Kimihito said with a weak wave as he grabbed the groceries and walked out of the store.

Walking down the road Kimihito felt his body become even worse feeling. The chills across his body were becoming hot flashes, his muscles now felt like shattered glass instead of gum, and every movement brought a piercing pain across his body. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse his head began pounding, as if a balloon was being blown up and then beat on with a mallet inside of his skull.

This continued until he finally made it back to his house, and by that time, he felt like walking death. Just how could he go from feeling sleep to so horrible in such a short space of time?

"I'm back!" Kimihito coughed as he entered the house and placed the groceries down so he could untie his shoes.

A half second later Rachnee and Mero came into the hall, and both of them reacted as Kimihito expected they would when he realized he hadn't been just tired.

"Ah, you don't look good at all!" Mero exclaimed as she rolled over and tried to help Kimihito stand.

"See, I told you that you shouldn't have gone out." Rachnee said with a sigh as she came over and picked up the bags of groceries. "Go to bed, we'll get the groceries to the fridge and explain to everyone else that you're sleeping in before we call Mrs. Smith,"

"I don't that that would be-"

"No I will, now get up to bed!" Rachnee said as Kimihito merely sighed and walked up the stairs. once they heard the sound of his door closing Rachnee turned to Mero. "Could you tell everyone while I call Ms. Smith?"

"Of course Miss Rachnerea!" Mero replied with a smile as she pushed her self along down the hall allowing Rachnee to grab the phone and dial it.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Smith, this is Rachnerea, "Rachnee stated quickly, her tone cold and low. " I'm calling you because Darling is rather sick and I figured you should know."

"I see. Thank you. I'm guessing it's a fever or cold right?"

"No, he seemed tired, but he got worse, so I'm worried it's maybe something worse." Rachnee stated.

For many moments the line was quiet, until Rachnee heard a shuffling of papers, accompanied by Ms. Smith's voice. "Okay, what were his symptoms? Tell me all you can, in order of their appearance please."

"He seemed tired and a bit pale when he woke up. He looked dizzy as well. He went to the store to get some groceries for breakfast then. Normally it would have taken only about ten to fifteen minutes to go and come back, but he was gone for an hour, and when he returned he looked much worse. Like the life had been drained form his body, and he was as pale as a corpse."

" . . . . . . . I hope I'm wrong, but the symptoms sound like he may have caught that new disease going around. Liminal Transformation syndrome." Smith said clearly.

"What exactly does it do? I read something about it earlier today, but the details the paper gave were, vague."

"That's intentionally done. The virus has only affected some women so far and its effects have been temporary, but let's just say if he has caught it, when he wakes up the house will have another Liminal in it!"

"Is that, really possible?" Rachnee asked, simultaneously shocked and curious.

"Yes surprisingly. . . . I'm currently in Kyushu with Doppel and Zombina, but Tio and Manaka are in the city still, if you need anything call them until I return. That includes groceries. I'll call them and tell them to come help you out."

"Thank you Ms. Smith."

"Don't thank me yet, but let me say this, do not go into Darlings room, if he hasn't caught LTS ( Liminal Transformation syndrome) then the danger of mutation will still be there. And don't tell anyone else about it unless he has indeed caught it alright? We're trying to keep it under wraps as best we can. So if he does have it, call me again."

"Alright, thank you." Rachnee said as she put down the phone and sighed both happily and worryingly. Things might just become interesting.

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Kurusu Kimihito Opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling of his room. he felt extremely cold, but beside from that he felt much better than before. Glancing around he looked at his clock, a digital one, and say that he had apparently slept all day, and it was now the next morning.

With a sigh he tried to get up, but found he couldn't feel his legs. Swallowing hard kimihito exhaled slowly to calm himself down. He was sick after all, and jumping to reactions was not smart.

instead of moving his legs first he used his arms and pulled himself up his bed until he was sitting, but found that the covers were catching on his chest unusually a lot (normally they slipped of him if he sat up.)

Moving his arm to his chest to miv eth sheet Kimihito suddenly felt a prickle across his chest that caused his blood to run cold. It was a feeling he had felt many times (by accident mostly) but it told him the reason he could feel his legs. Miia was wrapped around him, and he had accidentally grped her.

"huh, Miia I need to get up and-" Kimihito stopped midsentence as he threw the covers off of him. he had expected to find Miia latched onto his chest with her coiled down his legs, but she want even in his bed, and instead of groping her breasts kimihito was grabbing. . . . . his own.

Kimihito was completely still for a moment as he looked at the mounds on his chest, covered by his pajamas, and then finally after a moment, squeezed his hand on his chest. He let out a light squeak uncontrollably, and felt the feeling from his hand and his breast itself.

"Wha- what, is, why do I have-" Kimihito began to say until _HE_ noticed the covers below his waist was bulky, so he threw them off and quickly lost it.

"WHAT THE HELL Is GOING ON!"


	2. CH2 - Situational Awareness

**Authors note: This chapter is relatively fast to appear because i had it mostly written already, so i hope you all enjoy it.**

 **additionally i forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but normally i get my chapters for all my stories double proof read by another person, I'm not for this one, so if some spots are a little rough, that's why. i am trying to be extra attentive to my own cheeking, but we'll see how that works.**

 **ow onto the madness and hilarity!**

"Ugh, I'm worried about darling!" Miia complained as sat on the floor beside the couch that Lala and Papi were dominating. Rachnera had taken Darlings usual chair for herself for the time, while Centorea was sitting on the other side of the couch, and Suu was splayed out under the table that Mero was sitting in front of.

"It cannot be helped if he is sick he is sick and he must get better." Mero said with a sigh that quickly turned to a grin as her inner imaginations went into overdrive.

"He will not die. this I guarantee." Lala said quietly, being mostly ignored by everyone as they continued to talk.

"Regardless we must wait until he awakens until we find what the situation is." Cerea said intelligently.

"I know, but I didn't see darling at all yesterday and only you and Rachnee did, it's not fair!" Miia complained.

Then they heard Kimihito's voice ring out from above them, accompanied by a heavy thump on the floor a moment later.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"Ah, that was darling!" Miia exclaimed in shock and surprise as she bolted upwards.

"Master did not sound well, he sounded confused almost." Cerea stated as she got up off the floor as well.

Rachnee sighed at what she knew was about to happen, and before she could say a word Miia, Cerea, Papi and Suu all bolted out of the living room to head up to kimihito's room. Rachnee looked to Lala and Mero and raised a brow. "Either of you going to join in on crowding into darlings room?"

"I can wait, the stairs would pose a problem for me anyway, and I do not believe you would wish to carry me." Mero said calmly.

Lala nodded in agreement. "I will wait."

"Alright then, I'll go and make sure things don't get to active up there then." Rachnee said simply as she sat up from the chair, that in all honestly only her abdomen had been sitting in, and walked out of the room.

down the hall, and up the stairs Rachnee made it to Kimihito's room to find all four of them standing outside of it, Miia trying, and failing, to open the door, curtesy of the deadbolt that Kimihito had mrs. smith install.

"ahh, it won't open, do we have a key?" Miia asked in a panic that made Rachnee smile at how ridiculous they were being.

"No, I don't recall master saying anything about keys, there's no keyhole anyway!" Cerea exclaimed as she looked at the door, her rump taking up most of the hallway between them and Rachnee.

Enjoying the situation, but knowing that Kimihito would not want to have to re hinge his door if they broke it, Rachnee lifted an arm up to the edge of the roof where she had secretly spun a think silk line into his room and the lock, and plucked it, causing the deadbolt to unlatch. The door instantly opened due to the weight of the four girls against it, and when it did they all fell through like so many rocks tumbling down a hill, ending with a crash as mii and Papi were buried under Cerea, with only Suu as padding between them.

With all four girls now flat on the floor of Kimihito's room Rachnee was able to walk over to where they had been and looked inside of Kimihito's room, causing her to gasp in surprise. Reacting to her gasp Cerea quickly lifted herself up, with Suu nearly merged with her shirt, and Papi and Miia looked up to see what she was so surprised about.

Lying on the floor of Kimihito's room was a girl with shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a simple pajama shirt of dark blue that was undone, showing off her modest b-cup breasts, and looked extremely scared as her hands held her body up off the floor. Behind her was a thin, but recognizable shape of a snake's tail, the scales all jet black with barely noticeable brown tinting throughout it. Her tail was just lumped all across the bed with the covers knotted around it, and her entire upper body was shivering. finally she looked up to the girls, her brown eyes holding onto a shred of hope as her different, yet familiar enough looking face stared up at them in shock, surprise, fear, and confusion. "I- I can't . . . m- move, i- i. wha- what is . . . . G-going on?" The girl stuttered to say, her tone similar to the way a person with hyperthermia would speak.

With deft skills and even more deftly placed movements Rachnee climbed over everyone in the rooms doorway and into the room before looking own at the still lying Miia. "Does this look like a Lamia's reaction to sever cold Miia?"

Miia nodded wordlessly, too confused and shock to speak.

Rachnee nodded and turned her body toward the doorway, and everyone in it. " Alright, Miia get up. Cerea, can you get some warm towels ready for downstairs and turn the houses heater on full?"

"O-of course but is that-" Cerea began to ask,

"Get to it, then." Rachnee cut her off as she looked to Suu and Papi, "you two get downstairs and help Cerea get some towels ready."

"Okay Rachnee!" Papi exclaimed as she got up off the floor and ran off, with Suu in tow right behind her.

Once everyone had disappeared Rachnee walked over to the door, closed it, and switched the light on, bringing bright light into the room and illuminating the situation for them to see once more.

The girl before them was definitely a Lamia, but was shorter in her body, and bust size than Miia was. She appeared to be at least a couple feet shorter than her in total length as well, and her hips were not quite as pronounced.

"Could you help her get unravelled and under the blanket to warm up Miia?" Rachnee suggested/asked as she walked over to the bed and partially climbed it to close the open window that was allowing a cool breeze into the room.

After a few moment Miia had successfully uncoiled her from the beds blanket and wrapped it on the black scald Lamia's shoulders just as the heating loudly kicked in, flooding the room with warm air. and after a few moments Miia broke the silence. Rachnee, is this-"

"Well why don't we ask her hmm?" achene said with a smile as she crouched down and lay her body I nthe bed so that she was as close to level as she could be with the little Lamia. "Darling, is that you?"

Kimihito nodded causing the locks of black hair that were now slightly longer to bob about. She looked confused and weak, but more confused than anything.

"Can you say your name, just to be sure pleas?" Rachnee asked calmly.

" Kurusu. . . kimihito" She said, her voice definitely that of a girls, but oddly not so different it did not sound like kimihito's own regular voice.

"But that's not possible!" Miia exclaimed in horror and shock. "Darling can't just-

"He can and did and there is an explanation Miia." Rachnee interrupted as she held up a finger. "But there's not much point in explaining it more than once. Before we can get, him . . . her, down stairs through we'll need to warm her up, so get to snuggling."

"What?! But darling is, I mean that, but that wouldn't be-"Miia began exclaiming colorfully, unable to react intelligently of calmly at the situation.

"It's either you snuggle with him, er, her, to get her body temp up or I do it. I figured you'd want to because you'd know the best places to warm first for a Lamia." Rachnee said with a smile so devious it told Miia she was doing her a favour.

Miia though was not entirely sure if it could be considered a favour though. "Urk, I- I guess so. . .. That is you, right darling?"

Kimihito nodded. "U-yes, but, what's. . . . going on - . . . I can't move my legs and- and-"

"Don't worry about that for now Darling." Rachnee suddenly said as she got up, walked over and forcibly grabbed Miia's shoulder and pulled her over to Kimihito. "First get warm so you can speak and not be freezing. Then we'll head downstairs and explain the situation. Okay?"

Kimihito nodded as Miia moved closer and pulled her up, forcibly wrapping her own tail around her darlings, though not tightly. "Is it really you though darling?"

"Mmm hmm." Kimihito mumbled, unable to move to resist anything, though he/she could not hate the fact that Miia was not crushing him/her.

After a few moments of silence Rachnee smiled when she noticed that Kimihito was not shivering anymore. "So, warm enough then?"

"Um, I think so, but what exactly is-"

"I think it's pretty obvious, you've turned into a Lamia like Miia." Rachnee said with a smile, making it evident that she was as least partially enjoying herself with the situation. Had enough fun cuddling with darling Miia?"

Miia grew red in the face and nodded. "I – I guess. It's a little weird with darling having a tail though." Miia stated as she slowly uncoiled from Kimihito.

"But you enjoyed it all the same. Darling, can you speak and move now?"

"I- I think so. I can speak at least. But I think my voice is weird." Kimihito said as her tail twitches slightly but did nothing else. "I don't think I can move though, I can't feel my legs and-"

"You can't feel your leg because their a tail now." Rachnee said simply. Apparently the fact of the matter still hadn't truly sunk home yet. It was understandable though, considering how strange it must be him. .. Or her as it was.

"But I can't, how exactly do I move then? And shouldn't we call Mrs. Smith?" Kimihito asked.

"We will, but she's out of town. First we need to get you downstairs and explain the situation to everyone. I basically know what's going on, but we'll need to get you down there so I can call smith to double heck the situation with her." Rachnee explained.

"Then you'll explain everything to us?" Miia asked, clearly wanting answers just as badly as Kimihito.

"Yes, but first we'll have to get her downstairs." Rachnee said as she looked at Kimihito. With the body of a Lamia her scales would provide some protection, but Rachnee was worried about weather her claws would hurt her or not. "I'm not sure if I'd want to carry you, can you walk, or, slither I mean."

"Um, I'm not sure I can." Kimihito explained as she tried to move, but ended up only falling face first onto the bed with her butt high to the roof before Miia helped her sit back up. "I don't know how to move anything below my waist."

"Ahh that's bad darling! Should we carry darling Rachnee?" Miia suggested.

"Hmm, that'll have to work I guess, could you carry her on your back? Then your tail could support some of darlings." Rachnee replied, getting a quick nod of confirmation from Miia, who oddly seemed to like the idea as she moved in front of kimihit and forcibly grabbed her hands and pulled them around her neck. "Hold on okay darling!" Miia exclaimed, acting extremely gung0ho about it.

"Ah, Miia, I should move on my own, I can't just make you carry me or-"

"No darling! if you can't move on your own then I'll be happy to move you!"

"You should give it rest Darling. Let Miia move you or you'll just hurt yourself trying to go down the stairs."

Giving up at Rachnee's words Kimihito allowed himself/herslf to be carried/dragged out of the room and down the stairs to the living room. After a few moments of confusion and surprise when it was realized in hindsight that Kimihito was only wearing an overly large pajama shirt, and a towel was wrapped around darlings lower body, Rachnee made a phone call, then came back into the living room with a heavy sigh.

Darling was balled up on the floor beside Miia, who had up until Rachnee left to call smith had been trying to teach darling how to move her lower half, to differing effect. everyone else sat around the living room with Lala, Suu and Papi taking the couch, Mero In her wheelchair, and Rachnera taking Darlings seat.

"So, what did Mrs. Smith say?" Mero asked after a few moments of quiet.

"Yes and what exactly is going on. Why is master a woman and a lamia!" Cerea exclaimed, unsure how to deal with the situation.

"The situation is this." Rachnee said calmly with a deep breath, "Darling has caught a new disease going around. LTS, or liminal Transformation syndrome. It's a new disease that had been effecting women and temporarily turning them into liminals. Mrs. Smith said that this is the first time that it's been caught by a male though."

"Wait, temporary right, so when will boss go back to normal!?" Papi asked

"Mrs. Smith explained that it usually runs its course on the ones infected in two to five days, and then they return to normal. She also said there's no cure but to let it run its course.

"Wait, so you mean I'm stuck like this for at least a few days!?" Kimihito exclaimed in horror, falling flat onto her face once more as she tried to sit up.

"Ugh, you need to hold yourself up by your hips darling!" Miia said as he held back a chuckle.

"Yes, that is the situation, so I guess for the next few days you'll get to see how a Lamia lives." Rachnee explained causing Miia to light up like a Christmas tree and begin exclaiming and ranting about all the things she could explain.

Kimihito scowled and sighed. "At least this can't get any worse."


	3. CH3 - Coils of Confusion -Learning curve

Kurusu Kimihito found out that it could be worse. And it became worse; substantially so.

Because he had turned into a Lamia, all the girls agreed that the one who would be best to teach him how to move would be a liminal of the same basic build, and as Miia was the exact same species they all agreed she should. Miia agree wholeheartedly too it, but the worst was yet to come.

"First we'll need to get you into something besides a towel and overly large shirt Darling!" Miia declared as she forcibly dragged Kimihito up the stairs and down the hall to Miia's room.

By the time Kimihito had pulled himself/herself off the floor he realized that it was both too late to complain or argue, and that he really needed to figure out how he was going to think of himself in this situation. Simply put, thinking of himself as a man while he had wide hips and even just moderately sized B-C cup breast was confusing him more than he realized.

"Hmm, is something wrong Darling?" Miia asked as she turned her upper body away from her clothing drawers and toward Kimihito while holding onto what appeared to be one of her dark red short belted skirts. She, wasn't going to get him to wear it was she?

"Um, it's just confusing is all. I'm still me but I'm not. And from what Rachnee said Mrs. Smith told her, I'll be like this for a while."

"Yeah, and that's why we need to get you into proper clothes! You can't go around the house in a bath towel!" Miia exclaimed with a smile as she pulled another three kinds of skirts, of varying lengths, out of her drawer and laid them on the bed while beginning to hum a tune.

"No that's not it, I mean, I really can't have you do this for me, I mean-"

"Nope!" Miia exclaimed singularly. "You're the one who's in trouble this time, so it's all our jobs to help you now, and as the only Lamia here I can help you best so I'm going to!"

"No, but I mean, I need to still make breakfast for everyone and-"

"It's nearly lunch darling so it's too late for that anyway."

"Ah," Kimihito gasped as he looked around for a clock in Miia's room and found it reading nearly noon. "Ah, I need to get to work on lunch then and - ack!" Kimihito exclaimed in panic, before attempting to get up from and falling face first onto the floor.

" AAH! You see! You can't do anything since you don't know how to move around like a Lamia does! So I have to teach you!" Miia nearly yelled as she tossed another skirt onto the bed and began pulling out shirts of various types, though most of them appeared to be either sort sleeved, or sleeveless, and most appeared to be made for Miia's larger bust.

"But that's just-"

"No buts! You can't do anything on your own until I teach you how to move around on your tail and control it!"

"I- I get that, but . . . . Why do I need to wear different clothes?"

" . . . . Because yours won't fit your new body type, especially your hips! Oh, that and Lamia can't were pants, so what of yours could you wear?" Miia asked as she laid a few shirts onto the bed, then opened another drawer and became oddly quiet for a moment. This, I'm not sure about this, but - . . . . . . . . . "

"Is something wrong Miia?" Kimihito asked

" Err, well that' a little bit-" Miia muttered to herself as she pulled something out of the drawer and held it behind her with both hands as she turned to Kimihito while fidgeting with whatever she was holding, then showed it to Kimihito, causing him to gasp in shock and terror. "I've pulled out some skirts and shirts for you to choose from but um, I'm not sure if my underwear will fit you."

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After nearly ten minutes of embarrassment on both sides, and another ten minutes of Miia helping Kimihito put on the skirt and shirt, but not the underwear or a bra, (as he had stated he would not need it, and Miia's wouldn't fit anyway.) the two of them were ready to begin teaching and being taught.

"So we'll need to start with your balance first I think!" Miia suggested as she noticed that Kimihito was still sitting down on his/her coils and leaning against the wall.

"Balance?"

"Of course Darling! women's balance is lower than men, but a Lamia's balance is lower than a human women's because of our tails. Our balance is just below out hips!"

"So, is that why whenever you lean over, or move you're sticking your hips out more than other girls do?"

"Aw, Darling so you do notice my hips!" Miia nearly squeaked with happiness as she wrapped her hands around her shoulders as she wiggled about for a few moments. Coughing and composing herself Miia then looked down at Kimihito. "Um, that's how it is though; you'll need to get your balance right otherwise you'll keep falling flat on your face!"

"Ugh, I'm almost fine with that if I wouldn't have to leave this room like this." Kimihito stated.

"Hmm, why? You look pretty good actually, though my shirt is a bit big for you." Miia noted as she looked at the light brown button up shirt that sat loosely over Kimihito's shoulders, and the what would be knee length red pleated skirt that sat on his/her hips.

"Hearing that does not make me happy." Kimihito sighed as Miia slithered over to Kimihito.

"Well it should!" Miia exclaimed happily. "You're not endowed like most Lamia, but you're cute anyway!"

"As I said Miia, a guy doesn't want to be told their cute."

"Aw it's no big deal, let's get your balance sorted first, then we'll get you moving, okay?" Miia asked as she slithered up beside Kimihito and placed her arms under her armpits to lift her up until Kimihito was nearly four feet up on his/her tail. "Okay, how does it feel, can you feel your balance?"

"Um, I'm not sure really. It's really hard to feel anything when I'm having trouble understanding he feeling in my. . . .Tail."

"Hmmm, okay, so the centre of balance for a Lamia is right here!" Miia exclaimed as she moved on of her hands and placed it on Kimihito's tail, right below where his crotch had been, and still was. The sudden feeling of someone touching his tail, and so close to where his family jewels had been, caused Kimihito's body to shudder involuntarily, which then caused Miia to pull her hand away in surprise and shock. "Ah, are you okay darling?"

"S-sorry Miia, I just dint, didn't expect a Lamia's, um, lower body to be so, um err . . . . Sensitive."

Miia looked at Kimihito for a moment then down at her hand as she placed it on he own body where she had touched Kimihito and nearly shrieked. "Aaah, I'm sorry! I hadn't realized where it was really, it's just this isn't something I'd have to explain ,so I just. . . . I'm sorry darling!"

"Err, no, its fine, I mean I was just surprised is all and . . . . . . . . . . . And I'm standing."

Miaa blinked and looked at Kimihito, noticing that when she had unconsciously moved backwards in panic, she had released Kimihito, and that she was standing as any Lamia would, and wasn't even wobbling. "You are, is your balance fine then? Try moving your body side to side and looking around, twist your body like I would sometimes." Miia suggested with a smile as she leaned against the wall and placed her hand on her hips like she had accomplished something on her own.

Kimihito nodded and slowly twisted his upper body while looking down at his back, finding that he was far more flexible now, and that he didn't seem to have any problem balancing now, at last while staying still. He could even lean over as incredibly as Miia would without a problem. When he leaned back up though and looked to Miia, he found her blushing rather strongly and averting her eyes. "Is something wrong Miia?"

"EH? No, I mean yes, I mean, not really!"Miia panicked for a moment before taking a few breaths and calming herself down. "Sorry, it's just that I love you so much darling, but I'm not sure what to feel as you're a girl right now, but when I saw you moving your hips about, I kind of just . . . . . . . . . ."

Kimihito looked at Miia in confusion for a moment until the realization came, and Kimihito began blushing as well. "Ah, well, this is a strange situation, so. . . . There's sure to be some confusion all around."

"Less than you'd think or some of us!" Rachnee said with a chuckle as she stepped into the open door to Miia's room and tapped on it with a smile. "May I come in?"

"Ah, Rachnee! Are you trying to steal my alone time for teaching Darling!?" Miia exclaimed in less than a second as she moved between Kimihito and Rachnee.

"Hardly, I just figured the two of you would be hungry, unless you don't want the lunch I brought you both?" Rachnee replied as she brought a large plate of some sort of rolls into view and shrugged her shoulders, silently saying she could walk back away easily.

Miia Gasped in annoyance until she heard Kimihito's stomach grumble and slumped her shoulders down when hers did the same. She had skipped breakfast after all. "I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing us lunch. Please come in and make yourself comfortable." Miia grumbled causing Rachnee to smile even wider.

"It's so easy to tease you Miia. I wasn't about to leave Kimi without food!" Rachnee stated as she came into Miias room and up to the table where she placed down the plater of rolls. "And don't worry, I made those ones, not Cerea, so they're meat."

"Oh good!" Miia exclaimed as she slithered over and sat down at the table, quickly picking up a roll and biting into it.

"Um. . . Kimi?" Kimihito asked as she tried to move over to the table, only falling over partially, and tapping her head on the side of Miia's mattress before making it to the table and picking up a roll himself.

"Yes, Lala and I figured it would be awkward for most of us to continue calling you darling or master in the current situation, so we figured out a more appropriate alternative for your female form, Kimi!"

"You can't just change darlings name like that Rachnee!" Miia exclaimed as she grabbed another roll and took a bite out of it.

"It's not a change, more like a nickname so we can differentiate Darlings regular shape to his current female one. It'll also be easier to explain her name as Kimi if someone comes to the door and sees her." Rachnee explained carefully.

"I guess that makes sense." Kimihito stated. Or was he Kimi now? And a she?

"Well that's settled I guess. So how's it coming Miia?" Rachnee asked as she took a roll or herself and began carefully eating it

"Pretty good actually! we got Darlings balance down and she's clothed, so now we can get to actually moving!"

"That's good." Rachnee said simply as she looked at Kimi and smiled. "You look pretty cute like that actually. Kind of like . . . . . never mind." Rachnee stopped herself as she turned away.

"Hmm? Like what?" Miia asked as Kimi muttered about not wanting to be called cute again.

"It's nothing." Rachnee states as she stood up and grabbed the now empty plate, " I'll leave you to teaching, but come downstairs when you both can, I think everyone is getting a bit worried your trying to hog Kimi all to yourself!" Rachnee teased as she left the room.

After a few minute of silence, which Miia used to finish off her last role, she looked at Kimi and then to the door and back and nodded to herself. "Okay, Time to teach you to actually move around!"

"Okay, I think I can handle that, maybe." Kimi replied as she lifted up and only wobbled slightly.

"I told you one before right? That Lamia move mainly with our hips. It's easy once you get used to it!" Miia said as she slithered up and away from the table over to the door, then turned back to Kimi and slowly slithered toward her while talking. "Since lamia's have lower bodies like snakes out movement is roughly the same. The only difference is that we almost always have our upper body raised up off the ground. Because of that, much of our movement is translated to our hips, as our hips are where our movement starts. Easy see?"

Kimi watched Miia move from the door and back twice before nodding slightly. "Okay, so movement starts at hips and goes down." Kimi muttered to herself as she stood up and took a dep breath. Any movement he had done thus far had been either by being dragged, carried, or by pulling herself with her arms, so as she tried to move forward she found herself fall flat on her face, again.

"Ah, um I guess just getting it by being shown isn't going to work huh? Miia said with a half assed chuckled as she slithered over to Kimi and pulled her up, placing one of her arms around her own neck. It looked like she was trying to help her walk, which technically was correct, but the image of a Lamia helping another slither probably looked more than just slightly ridiculous. "Okay, I'm going to move slowly, so you can go at your own pace okay? Let's try again!"

Being given no choice in the matter, especially if she wanted to move on her own power, Kimi nodded and began trying to move forward. Slowly the two of them made it to the doorway and entered into the hall, and for a few feet it seemed to be going well, until Kimi fell forward again, but was swung around due to her arm being over Miia. In an instant she found herself grabbing onto Miia with her free arm, and her face buried in Miia's cleavage.

Staying like that for a moment as her heart slowed down from the sudden surprise Kimi looked up from Miia's breasts to find her blushing and looking away, and only then did she realize where her head was. "Ah, I'm Sorry Miia!" Kimi exclaimed as she forcibly pulled away and fell backwards onto the floor of the hallway.

"Uh, no, it's alright." Miia said as she coughed and tried to compose herself. "I was just surprised as, as you've never rally touched my breasts so forcefully before." Miia muttered under her breath with a blush.

"Pardon?"

"Ah it's nothing!" Miia suddenly exclaimed in a panic as she leaned over and pulled Kimi off the floor. "Were out here and you weren't doing so badly, so let's keep going and get you moving!"

Over the next few hours Miia continued to train and teach Kimi how to move, and with only four face-plants, two accidental groping's and seven cases of Kimi's tail smacking Miia in the side, Kimi finally was able to stand and move on her own power, albeit slower than Miia did normally.

With her ability move at least partially gained the two of them went down stairs and saw everyone for the first real time all day, and quickly discovered that Kimi, despite now being entirely a carnivore, could still cook better than Miia by leaps and bounds despite not being able to effectively taste some ingredients. Because of how long it took to make however, by the time everyone was down and Kimi began doing the dishes, it was nearly ten at night.

"Ugh, this is difficult." Kimi muttered to herself as she washed the large amount of dishes in the sink. "Normally I'd be done by now, but with the water this lukewarm. . . .. aahh, being cold blooded like this sucks."

"Um, Darling." Miia almost whispered as she came around the corner of the doorway into the kitchen and stayed there, most of her body hidden in the hall.

"Yeah Miia?"

"Um, I was wondering if you'd like to join me in the bath before going to bed. To warm up your body beforehand I mean!" Miia screeched as she waved her arms about in a sudden embarrassed panic.

"Err, um, I suppose I could. if that's something that helps Lamia I mean." Kimi stated as she put the last dish on the rack and pulled the plug on the drain. "There's, um, something I want to ask you though actually." Kimi then asked, fidgeting slightly with her hand in front of her.

"Oh, what is it! I can tell you anything you want to know!" Miia exclaimed, suddenly very gung ho about talking. "Oh, maybe I should tell you all about Every Bit of Lamia culture, Our mating dances and-"

"N-, no it's nothing like that, it's something simple I want to ask actually."

"Oh, what is it?"

Kimi was quiet for a few moments as she continued to fidget while a deep crimson blush appeared across her face before speaking. "Um, how exactly, um, do- do Lamia. . . . . . . . Go to the bathroom?"


	4. CH4 - Coils of confusion - LTS

Kimihito opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling to his room. It was dim with only a bare amount of light shining in through the window across the roof, and the room was still, the window closed, stopping the usual light breeze form blowing in that Kimihito was so used to.

Kimihito pulled on of his hands out from under his bed sheets and looked over his hand, sighing at how thin it was before placing his hand down on his chest and feeling the telling softens. he didn't want to admit it, but he already had all the proof he needed that what had happened the day before had not been a r=dream, and the pair of small yet soft breasts on his chest confirmed it just as much as the tip of his tail that he then saw slide out of the blankets.

Pulling himself up out of his bed Kimihito looked himself over once ore, hoping for one last time that he was imagining things. He had a modest set of breast on his chest that failed at being hidden under his pajama shirt, ample hips, and a long black scale covered tail that came down from those hips. ignoring his lower bodies complete nakedness, ( as he refused to borrow any of Miia's pajama's) Kimihito brushed some hair out of his face and found that his ears as well were pointed like Miias were.

With another heavy sigh Kimihito Pulled, or pushed as it was, his body off of his bed, stumbling only slightly due to the majority of his tail having been on the bed still. How exactly did Miia get off her bed in the morning?

"Ugh, I'll need to set the bath for Miia still." Kimihito muttered to himself as he grabbed a shirt and skirt that Miia had left on his dresser for him, dropping one of them from his hands shivering more than he expected. "And maybe for myself too."

Once clothed Kimihito left his room and made his way to the bathroom, quickly finding that even just the hot steam that appeared as he filled the bath got rid of the shivering from his body. Miia always needed the bath or something similar, and it always took a while for it to affect her. Did it affect him differently because he wasn't as big as Miia was?

"Hmm? Is someone in the bath already?" Miia stated in surprise as she opened the door to the bath to find Kimihito there. "Ah, Darling! Did you come to join me in the bath?"

"Ah, um, not I just thought I'd get the bath ready for you is all . . . though it does seem oddly more nice than usual, even the steam." Kimihito muttered as he looked away from Miia out of habit, then looked back to find her wearing her usual nightgown, and not the extremely explicit one. Thankfully.

"Oh, well you could probably do with a bath as well, so why not join me!" Miia exclaimed happily as she reached down to the bottom of her nightgown and pulled it off in one quick, elegant, and oddly arousing motion, leaving her entire naked body in plain view.

"Err, no that's fine, or, I'm fine I mean Miia. It wouldn't be right so I'll just-"

"But it's not mixed bathing now like before so what the problem Darling?" Miia exclaimed as she moved over to Kimihito and grabbed his shirt, pulling it off him with nearly tactical precision and speed, showing her breasts to the air. Barely having time to let out a squeak Miia slipped the Skirt of Kimihito's hips as well, leaving them both completely naked just as the bath was nearly full. "Let's go in, okay darling?"

Having his clothing pulled complete off Kimihito suddenly felt extremely cold, and the warm bath he had just drawn suddenly seemed extremely inviting, even if he was going in with Miia. "I- I guess, its okay. Just bathing though!"

"Okay, I'll wash your back!" Miia exclaimed happily as she slithered over the edge and into the bath. it took only a few second for all of her tail to slip into the bath behind her, and as she found a comfortable position sitting against an edge, her tail then loosened and spread out around the baths edge. "Haa, it feels so good. Come on and get in already Darling!"

Hearing Miia call out to him, and being Already naked made Kimihito suddenly feel extremely and very oddly, silly, and without anther thought he moved over to the bath ,carefully moved over the edge of it and slipped in over it and Miia's own coils and into the bath. the hot water immediately began caressing his tail, and the feeling of it across its length felt amazing, like he was getting a massage across his entire lower body all at the same time, and before he knew it he had lowered his entire body into the bath until only his head was above the water's surface in the baths centre. "This feels really good."

"It does do it darling!" Miia mused with a smile as she let her body sink down until just the tops of her bare breasts were above the water. "It's better than the red sand treatments back home!"

"Red sand?" Kimihito asked in confusion and interest, unconsciously moving a little bit closer to Miia in the bath.

"Yeah, it's basically where you get buried in really fine red sand that holds less heat than normal sand. Because it's so fine its rally soft and relaxing too. But a bath like this is so much nicer! " Miia exclaimed with a pleased moan.

Mia's moan caused Kimihito to notice just how closely he had drifted toward Miia, and in surprise at that fact he suddenly splashed back in a minor panic, causing Miia to look at him in surprise and confusion.

" something wrong darling?"

"Ah yes, I mean no, I mean." Kimihito stopped and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out and then looking to Miia, finding that his gaze was drawn to how Miia's breasts seem to shimmer and float in the water ever so slightly. "Was just worried I was invading your space is all. I kind of almost floated into, into your, breasts."

"Hmm, oh. Do you want to?"

"Want to what?"

"Touch my breasts of course Darling!" Miia exclaimed as she cupped her arms under them and lifted up slightly, accentuating them in the light.

"Uh, no. I mean that wouldn't be right so-"

"How isn't it right Darling? I love you, so I let you touch me however you want, right? Besides, you are a girl right now, so there's even less wrong with it now!" Miia exclaimed as she moved away from the edge of the bath and slowly began moving toward Kimihito, a strange look in her eyes.

"uh, no it's still not right and-"

"Miia, have you seen Kimi?" Suddenly came Centorea's voice from outside the bath, sounding slightly exasperated. "I tried looking in her room and the bathroom, but she wasn't there!"

Ah, that was right, nearly everyone had gone along with Rachnee and Lala's idea of giving her a female name while she was one. The only person who didn't seem to the day before was Miia. And she was acting, strange.

"Darling is in the bath with me Certorea!" Miia called back, the strange look that had been in her eyes now having disappeared. "What did you need her for?"

" Mrs. smith called and said she would be here presently. She wants to talk to you master!" Cerea called back, as if she knew that Kimi could hear her, which seemed odd that she was taking the fact of her being in the bath with Miia so easily.

"Okay, I'll be out in a moment then Cerea!" Kimi called back as she slithered backwards a bit and began moving towards the edge of the bath.

"Aw, there goes our fun time!" Miia pouted angrily as she sat up and followed Kimi out of the bath and over to the towels on the wall. Miia grabbed her own towel and quickly, Effortlessly, wrapped it around her body from her bust down to just past her waist. kimi however merely grabbed it and began using it to dry herself, causing Miia to look at her in surprise. "Ah darling what are you doing!?"

"Hmm, I'm drying myself? Or do Lamia do it differently?"

"I don't know if it's just us, but you have to rap the towel around your body then dry your hair first so it doesn't drip everywhere!" Miia exclaimed.

"But, my hair is short compared to yours, it didn't get much longer so-"

"No buts! It's especially bad or us Lamia, if you don't dry your hair first it will drip all over your body and cool your body temperature! You have to dry your hair, then your body, and then your tail while in the bathing area; otherwise you'll just keep dripping all over yourself!"

Kimi was taken aback at how Miia responded to her actions, but did as she as told and wrapped the towel around her body. Was this why they seemed to go through so many towels in the wash? "Um, like this then?"

Miia looked at how Kimi had wrapped her towel and scowled at it. "Nope! Here I'll help you!" Miia stated as she moved over and grabbed the towel off of Kimi's body and then wrapped it around her herself. "Here I'll help you with your hair too then, otherwise it'll become a mess!"

"Uh, I don't think that's really necessary, I mean we need to meet Mrs. Smith so-"

"She can wait, we need to get you dried right and make sure your hair doesn't become strange!"

"Ugh, fine." Kimi said with a sigh, somehow realising that she wouldn't be able to argue with Miia on this topic.

After nearly an hour of Miia Forcibly drying (nearly) every inch of Kimi's body (that she let her), carefully drying her hair and even more carefully brushing and styling it, the two of them came out of the bath, Miia looking quite pleased with herself, and Kimi looking like she had lost something important in it all.

Standing in the hallway just ahead of them was Suu, who as soon as she saw the two of them waved to them with a smile, then slid into the living room. Knowing that it meant she was acting as a sentry or something similar Kimi sighed and slowly followed behind Miia, trailing behind due to both their size, length, and experience difference. by the time Kimi herself made it to the living room, she found Miia and everyone else standing by the couch, and Mrs. Smith sitting in the main chair, carefully sipping a cup of coffee with her legs crossed, almost pointing toward a thick folder that sat on the table and bore a single word. Confidential.

"Good morning Darling," Mrs. Smith said in her usual tone, somewhere between professional, bored, and teasing. "Nice of you to finally come join us."

"Uh, sorry I just-"

" theresn o need to explain. you're hair looks quiet good, and that alone can tellme roughly why I;ve been waiting." Mr smith said as her eyes glanced over to Miia from under her sunglasses, cuaing miia to shutter somewhat and hide slightly behind Centorea.

"I see. I'm sorry but, you're here for- . . . ?

"I'm here for you actually." Mrs. Smith said as she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, placing her cup of coffee beside the large folder. "I came to see for myself if what Rachnera said was true, and it does appear to be. Not only are you a girl but you're a Lamia. She is completely a Lamia, right Miia?"

"Ugh, y-yes!" Miia responded, not entirely sure what Mrs. Smith was getting at with her question.

"Female Genitals and all?" Smith asked again, causing Kimi and Miia to both go red in the face.

"Y-yes. n – Not that I , tried to see or anything I just-!" Miia began saying in a panic.

"It's alright, I'm just teasing. At least partially." Mrs. smith explained as she stood up and walked over to where Kimi was standing, and slowly began walking around her very carefully, to not step on her tail.

"um, what are you . . . ?"

"I'm looking over your body to see how perfect the transformation is. There have been some cases where the transformations were not complete, and it led to complications. But yours looks completely fine." Mrs. Smith said as she walked back over to the chair and sat down in it, crossing her leg as she did.

Suddenly Kimi really wanted her legs back.

"I'm guessing since I'm here you want to know all you can about what's happening to you?" Mrs. Smith asked as she pulled out a small black case and set it on the table.

"Please, I want to know how long I'll be like this!" Kimi replied quickly.

Mrs. Smith nodded as she leaned forward and plucked the thick folder off the table, opening it on her lap. "What you've caught is called Liminal Transformation Syndrome or LTS for short. It first appeared roughly a month ago, and including you has now infected nine people. We are unsure if it's a virus, a bioweapon or what, but what we do know is that it causes those that catch it to turn into Luminal's for a temporary period of time ranging from three to eight days. once it has run its course, the person infected returns to as they were, unless they did something to agitate the sickness in their body."

"Agitate? Does that mean she cannot move around or risk staying like that?" Centorea asked in worry.

Mrs. Smith shook her head. "No, by agitate it means acting in such a way that would, mark the body in its new form. The only person to have become stuck as a liminal was a woman who was a host to a young Fenris wolf. she turned into a Fenris as well, and she lost control due to the hormones in her body during the full mon and ended up, mating with him, and getting herself pregnant. So simply put, don't let that happen and you should be fine Darling. . . . We think." Mrs. Smith added almost as an afterthought.

"What do you mean by that?" Rachnera asked carefully, sounding none too happy with Mrs. Smith's tone.

"I mean, that we are not one hundred percent sure of what it does yet, Darling here is the first male to catch LTS, and so until he goes through it, we don't know what it will do or if it is any different at all. We think it is because it turned him into female liminal, but we are unsure."

". . . So as long as I don't do, that, I'll turn back in a few more days then?" Kimi asked in a weak worried tone.

"We believe so yes."

"That's good Kimi!" Papi exclaimed with a flap of her wings.

"Kimi?" Mrs. Smith asked as she dropped the folder back on the table and looked at Kimi, then to Papi and then around at everyone else until Rachnera smiled and spoke up.

"Lala and I thought it might be a little strange to call Darling, well darling, when she is a girl at the moment, so we came up with a temporary name for her. Kimi."

" . . . . I see. I suppose that works well." Mrs. Smith said with a smirk as she uncrossed her legs, drank the remainder of her coffee and stood up from her chair.

"Is that all you came to tell me then?" Kimi asked. "How am I supposed to leave the house like this? How am I supposed to work, or get groceries?"

"Ah, yes. About that." Mrs. Smith said as she picked up the folder and slipped out a single piece of paper and placing it on the table. "On that paper are two numbers, one is for my office if you have additional questions or information about LTS. Call it if something happens. The other number is for a small government group that does Shopping and delivery for host families that have trouble getting out. Call them and they will take a list you give them and do the shopping or you. sounds simple enough right?"

"I- I guess so . . . so I just, don't leave the house then? What about my work?"

"I already informed them that you were, partaking in government business and that you would be unavailable, oh, and under no circumstance are you to tell anyone about LTS. Until we know more about it, it is strictly confidential and only host families that are dealing with it are allowed to know the details of it. Understand?"

Everyone in the room nodded slowly.

"Good." Mrs. Smith said as she walked past Kimi to the room's entrance and then stopped in the doorway and turned around, her expression strange. "Oh, and before I forget. The laws state that relations between liminals and humans of opposite genders cannot be allowed, but they don't say anything about Liminal relationships with others, or relationships with the same gender. As long as you control yourself, this could be a chance to get closer to the girls, eh Kimi?" Mrs. Smith said with a smile as she ducked out of the room and quickly left the house, leaving them with the one piece of very unsubtle innuendo.

 **authors notes:**

 **And yaa another chapter up and out, or is that out and up? Regardless another one is up, and it's thanks to all of you folks. I am thankful for your very pleasant response to this fic, as I was not 100% sure of it, for numerous reasons.**

 **As I've thrown the virus information out there as well if anyone wants to use it's normal strain for anything, go right ahead. I call it the regular strain because . . . . . no I'll let that hold for a while and let you see in a few chapters. (sorry)**

 **I do have one Last thing to say as well, partially brought up by one person review comment and my own summary for this fic. the topic I stated In the summery of possible potential lemons. now I have not done lemons before, but have been told by a friend that I might be possible good at it (from a never posted very random idea I did in the past.) because of these points, I'd like to leave it to you all to decide, so I've posted a little poll on my profile page of whether I should attempt to do the occasional lemon chapter in this fic, so it'd be a great help to me if you gave your thought on that In the poll.**

 **hope you liked the chapter and look forward to the next one!**


	5. CH5 - Coils of Confusion - Lust

**Authors note: so, the poll had a total of nine votes, less than i would have liked but it did give me an answer. i had also gotten a PM or two that helped make my decision, so here's how lemons are going to go, probably. some chapters will be story line based, but the ones that are not will be titled as special chapters. this one is story based, and yes this chapter has the first lemon. hopefully i haven't botched it too horribly, so on with the show, and please do tell me what you think of it.**

Kimihito, now called kimi by everyone except for Miia, had already learned that moving was hard as a Lamia. Unfortunately things got worse when she found out there were even more things that were hard to deal with.

"Ow!" Kimi yelped as her tail was stepped on rather forcefully, causing Centorea to leap back in sudden surprise.

"Ah, I'm sorry, master I didn't notice your tail was there!" Centorea apologized as she hung her head low and walked around the kitchen table where three different cutting boards were laid out, along with dozens of bags of vegetables.

"It's okay, Cerea," Kimi replied as she wiggled her body about, moving the excess of her tail away from the kitchen doorway to around where she was, in the kitchen proper.

The problem simply put, was that her tail was so long that she often managed to forget where it lay in its entirety, causing it to be stopped on, stumbled over and kicked. just in the time from when she made breakfast to now while she was preparing lunch, it had been stepped on twice, and stumbled over three times.

"Huh, I wonder how Miia deals with it." Kimi muttered as she grabbed a jar of mayonnaise and opened it, quickly spreading it on the small army of sandwiches she was preparing for lunch.

"I don't think she does honestly." Cerea deadpanned as she glanced around at the room to find that she and kimi were the only ones in it. "Where is everyone actually?"

"Papi, and Miia are helping with the laundry, and Rachnee and Lala are cleaning the bathtub. I don't know where Suu or Mero are, but I'm thankful for the help." Kimi replied, not stating that it was pissing her off that only now did they think to help with the house chores.

"Oh I see. Shall I help you with lunch then?" Cerea asked as she nearly beamed at the idea of helping.

"Could you cut up the veggies then? The carrots and celery into sticks. You can dice the rest as its prep for dinner."

"Alright, I shall do it with all my strength!" Cerea claimed as she picked up a knife and began cutting and chopping.

"Alright, I think that does it." Kimi said to herself as she unconsciously placed both hands on her hips and looked over the sandwiches. They were simple ham sandwiches, (Celery for centorea) and most of them were in groups of three to her one, as everyone needed lager portions than she did.

"Um, Master." Cerea spoke up, her tone strangely confused.

"Yes?"

"Um, am I not counting the sandwiches correctly or do you AND papi only have one each?"

"Well yeah, neither of us is big enough to need any more than that."

"You're a Lamia right now master, remember?"

". . . Oh, right." Kimi said unemotionally as she looked down at the sandwiches and silently both judged and cursed herself. "I'll be fine, so I'll just make sure to not forget when dinner comes around."

"Master, that is very dangerous. " Cerea suddenly scolded. "You should not think so little of the nutritional requirements of liminals, especially larger species!"

All kimi could do was groan in understanding. She knew she couldn't argue, but didn't begin making another one and simply began placing them onto a large plate before bringing it to the table and loading up the freshly sliced veggies into its center.

"Alright, I've finished dicing the veggies for dinner, where do you want them?" "Cerea asked with a smile.

"Just put them in the bowl there and put it in the fridge, thanks!" Kimi said as she moved the plate of sandwiches and veggies to the tables centre and moved over her own tail to the doorway of the kitchen, and took a deep breath. "Lunch is ready!"

For a second nothing happened, and then kimi and Cerea heard a cascading rumble that echoed through the house, getting louder by the second until it finally reached the kitchen. Miia and Papi were the first to enter the room, followed by Mero, Suu, Rachnee and Lala. Everyone crowded around the table in what was now their usual places, eying the plate of sandwiches on the table as Kimi quickly pointed out which ones were who's. Once everyone had grabbed their first sandwich and everything had settled down, Kimi grabbed her own, only to have Miia speak up,

"Um, darling, is that all you're going to eat?"

Kimi inwardly scowled and outwardly signed slightly. "I'll be fine, I'll just make a little extra for dinner, once that order of meat gets here."

"Hmm, yes." Rachnee suddenly exclaimed with a smile. " That food ordering service Mrs. Smith suggested is useful, but they seem a bit slow don't they?"

" . . I think it has to do with the amount ordered actually." Kimi said in a dead tone, knowing that no matter what tone she used nearly everyone would catch on to the reason the orders were so large. Them.

"That makes a certain amount of sense; almost everyone does eat quite a bit of, meat." Cerea said as she happily munched on her sandwich, as if the situation did not concern her.

"Cerea, that's not exactly-" Kimi began to say, ,until the sound of the doorbell rang twice in a row and the sound of someone calling something was almost heard. "Ah, that must be the delivery!"

"I'll get it; otherwise you'll have to explain your situation to someone!" Rachnee said with a wink as she left the room and headed down the hall to the front door. When she had first gotten the door when the delivery people had come she had expected them to be afraid of her but as it turned out since their job was deliveries to many different houses housing liminals, they did not show the smallest bit of fear toward her. Simply put, she liked talking to them for a bit when getting the delivery, even if it was just a few words.

"Ah, hello again!" a young human man said with a tip of his hat as Rachnee opened the door. Beside him was a similarly young kobold girl with light brown hair, and both of them held a large case in their hands.

"Hello, sorry to put you through this all the time." Rachnee greeted them as she reached over and took the first box from the young man, placing just inside the door before grabbing the other.

"Nonsense, this is our job and we're happy to help anyone who needs it!" The kobold chirped happily.

"I see, if you just give me a second I have the other case you brought right here." Rachnee explained as she back into the house a bit and grabbed a case like the other two quickly passing it through the door to them.

"Ah, thank you . . . you know one of these days we'll have to actually meet mister Kimihito, is he out again today?" The young man asked with a smile as he passed Rachnee a clipboard and pen to sign of on the delivery.

"Yes, he's off at work we're all hoping he can get out some more soon." Rachnee said as she handed back the clip board and backed inside slightly, preparing to let them leave.

" oh yes, before I forget we've got one other delivery for you as well." he young man stated, causing the kobold girl to nearly bound back to their truck on the street and climb into it.

"Another delivery? Did darling order anything else?"

"Not for today no." The young man said as the kobold girl returned holding a cardboard crate, the kind that bananas and fruit were often transported in. "But Mrs. smith asked us to deliver this to you. It's for a Mrs. Miia, from her mother. Some sort of strange liminal fruit." He explained as he passed Rachnee the clipboard again, with the front page flipped over to reveal another.

"Oh, I wonder what it is" Rachnee commented as she passed the clipboard back and took the case of fruit of the kobold girl.

"Yeah we took a look, but I've never seen a fruit like it before, it's very strange looking, but since the case has a Lamia seal on it, I'll assuming it's a fruit they cultivate." The young man said as he began turning and walking back toward their truck. "Either way, we got more deliveries to make, so we'll see ya in a few days, have a good one!"

Rachnee waved back with one of her legs as another closed the door before she headed back to the kitchen, only to find everyone still there, working on their last sandwiches, and apparently trying to make Kimi take bites of each of theirs, to keep her full.

"Ah, the meat came then, thanks Rachnee!" Kimi exclaimed as she saw Rachnee enter the kitchen, using it as an excuse to stop everyone.

"Yes, the two cases are near the door, but this also came with them, it's apparently for Miia."

"Huh, for me?" Miia asked in confusion as Rachnee placed the case on the table and slid it toward Miia. "From who?"

"Your mother apparently." Rachnee said, causing Miia and Kimi to shudder slightly.

"Oh I wonder what she sent-" Miia began to say as she took of the lid, only to become silent when she what was inside. In the case were numerous large white skinned fruits that looked similar in appearance to a lemon, only nearly three times the size. "Whoa, she sent me Tsul Fruit!" Miia finally exclaimed after a long moment of silence.

"Tsul fruit? I've never heard of such a fruit." Cerea said first, sounding unsure of the fruit, and the fact that it was sent by Miia's mother.

"It's a fruit grown in our lands!" Miia quickly began explaining. "It's kind of like a lime or dragon fruit, and they're really juicy and tasty. Their used in making energy drinks sometimes too. They're never let out of our areas though, so I wonder why my mom sent then suddenly."

"Why are they not allowed out of Lamia Lands?" Rachnee asked, hoping it would provide some answers.

"I don't know actually, I never asked." Miia admitted with a smile as she began taking them out and passing them around. "But we should take advantage of them and have some, you too darling; it could be the only chance for you!"

"Huh, why?"

"No idea, my mom just said that humans can't have them under normal circumstance, so have a taste!" Miia exclaimed as she bit into the fruit, causing bright pink juices to trickle down her chin. "Ah, it's been so long I forgot how juicy they are!"

Everyone looked at the fruit, then to Miia enjoying hers so greedily and stopped caring, biting into them with curious fervor. Within seconds everyone was smiling at the flavor and juices.

"Ah, it's sweet, yet almost acidic like a lime!" Cerea exclaimed as she took another bite.

"Yes, it's quite tasty!" Rachnee agreed.

"It's tasty and warm!" Papi exclaimed with a happy laugh. "It's making my throat all tingly!"

"Tasty, tasty!" Suu said as the fruit sat in her chest and slowly dissolved, slowly turning her pink in color, something that surprised everyone.

"Ugh, is it supposed to do that Miia?" Kimi asked as she pointed to Suu, taking a small bite out of the fruit herself regardless.

"Um, probably?" Miia answered after a moment. "The juices are strong in their color and can stain clothing if it's a light color, so it's used as a dye sometimes. That's probably why Suu's gone pink. . . I guess."

Pink Suu smiled and closed her eyes, rocking side to side aimlessly as the fruit continued to slowly be dissolved, the density of the pink coloring becoming more and more as everyone continued to happily eat.

"Ah, that was tasty, we'll have to thank your mother at some point for them Miia." Rachnee said with a smile as everyone finished their fruit.

"yeah, we, we'll have to thank her," Kimi said with a gasp, as if she was having trouble breathing or had just been running for a long period. (or slithering as it was.)

"Hmm, are you okay master?" Cerea asked in worry.

"Yeah I'm fine, Cerea," Kimi replied with a slow nod. "I think I just ate it too fast, so I'm a little short on breath I guess."

"Well be careful next time. If you start choking on us we could do more harm than good trying to help you master!" Cerea explained, though Kimi had known such a thing since roughly week two.

"Yeah, I'll be careful." Kim said as she grabbed a glass of water and took a sip. "How are the chores coming by the way?"

"The laundry is almost done!" Papi piped up with a smile.

"And the dark spirits that inhabit the deep recesses of the tiled lands have nearly been rid of." Lala added in her chuunibyou speech. Kimi just took it as, the bath is almost clean. It was a big bath after all.

"We should go and finish cleaning then, Rachnee suddenly stated with a smile as she stood up, causing Lala to wince slightly and move slightly away from her.

"Okay, Rachnee's right, Let's go finish the laundry Papi!" Miia exclaimed, getting a cheer of agreement from papi as she jumped up and leapt toward the doorway, landing on something somewhat hard.

" Eeeaaaaaahhh!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Kimi who had let out a sudden moan and was now nearly lying on the table shuddering. "Darling, what's wrong!?" Miia asked in shock and surprise.

"T-t, tail!" Kimi gasped out as she pointed over to doorway.

Papi looked at Kimi for a moment, then down to realize that she was standing on the very tip of kimi's tail, and then promptly leapt off of it. "Ah, sorry!"

"It's okay Papi, I need, to keep better, track of where it is, anyway" Kimi gasped with a nod.

"Yeah, Lamia sometimes joke about our tails having a mind of their own sometimes, I guess yours is no exception darling!" Miia exclaimed with a smile.

"It's no laughing matter!" Mero suddenly exclaimed from her silence. "What if she broke her tail!"

"Not likely Mero, the tips of our tails have no bone I in them, it's just muscles and nerve endings, and it's why it's so sensitive to being touched." Miia explained before sitting up and moving over to the doorway where Papi was now sulking. "C'mon Papi, le go fold Darlings laundry!"

"Please do, I need to get the dishes done," Kimi said as she began grabbing plates off the table, her face a little red.

"We'll just get out of your way then." Rachnee said as she and everyone else left the room to either go back to what they were doing, or to just get out of the way.

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"Have you notice, Mero?" Rachnee asked as she, Mero and Lala sat in the living room alone after dinner. Dinner had been a large stir-fry, and because of the way the kitchen was built, and with Kimi's tail, no one could help her with the dished afterword's even if they wanted to. As such everyone went off to do their own thing after dinner. Miia and Cerea were apparently in the bath, while Papi and Suu were somewhere doing something else.

"Notice what miss Rachnera?" Mero asked in honest surprise, unsure about what topic Rachnee was bringing up.

"Kimi, she's been acting strange sine lunch time, don't you think?"

Mero seemed to think to herself before nodding slightly. "yes she has seemed a little off today. She's been awfully short of breath as well. I wonder if it means she's going to turn back to herself soon, it has been what, six days already that she's been a Lamia?"

"That sounds about right, it's strange though, she been short of breath and-"

"Rachnee, Mero, can you guys tell everyone, that I'll be hitting the sack early." Kimi said as she came out of the kitchen looking horrible. Her face was flushed red, there was sweat on her face and sliding down her tail, and her breath seemed ragged. "I'm feeling a little out of it, so I'm turning in."

"Ah I've been considering turning in as well." Mero suddenly spoke up as she rolled her wheelchair toward the Kkimi. "If it's not too much trouble I'll head out with you."

"Our rooms are on different floors though?"

"Your point?" Mero asked with a simple smile.

Kimi sighed and then looked to Rachnee and Lala, "I'm going to sleep, goodnight."

"Goodnight, see you in the morning Kimi. " Rahnee said as she and Mero disappeared. For many moments it was quiet, then out of nowhere Rachnee turned her gaze to Lala. "Did you see, Kimi's little nubs were showing, quiet explicitly."

"The immortal keeper has deigned not to don the protection of the female side; it is not unexpected that such a thing would occur." Lala stated, far more stoic on the subject than most people would be.

"True but . . . . I think I might use Kimi's computer tomorrow, do some checking on something. Or, no, I'll just call Mrs. smith and ask her directly tomorrow.

"Urk, then warn me if she comes over, so I can be as far away as possible." Lala said quickly as she stood up and began leaving the room, completely having dropped her chuunibyou hay of speaking.

"You really don't like her hmm?"

"No, I do not. Good night!"

Rachnee let out a sigh as she sat in the now empty living room. It wasn't horribly late but with most people having already gone to bed she was feeling the desire to as well. She'd need to tell Cerea and Miia what Kimi asked her to though, so she had no choice but to stay up until then at least. And wait.

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"Ugh, that felt so good!" Miia exclaimed as she came out of the bath in her nightgown. Cerea had been in with her, but had gotten out much earlier and by the time Miia realized he had been dozing off; she had been in the bath until the water was barely lukewarm, something she needed to work on as it was happening more and more. The late summer weather simply made it too easy to lose track of time in the bath, because even if the water became just warm, it didn't affect her much. That would change once fall arrived though.

"About time you got out of there." Rachnee said with a yawn as Miia came into the living room. "Everyone else has turned in already."

"What? Why?"

"Probably due to the heat. Kimi turned in because she wasn't feeling good though."

"Oh, I should check on her then." Miia stated as she began to leave the living room.

"Why?"

"Hmm, oh. Uh, Lamia don't deal with colds well, we have problems keeping out body heat stable when we're sick."

"I see." Rachnee said simply, "Well you better go see her then. See you in the morning.

"Okay!" Miia called as she quickly left the room and went down the hall. The stairs were a bit of an annoyance as usual though. Going down them was no problem, but the lips on each stair caused them to rub on Miia's tail, and it was uncomfortable. Being that darling was still new to moving around as a Lamia she likely had the same problem as well, she was just not saying anything about it. Just how much was she having trouble with that she was keeping quiet about though? That thought crossed Miia's mind numerous times a day recently and it was stressing her a bit out.

Getting to Darlings room Miia pressed her ear against it to see if she could hear anything, and was instantly surprised. The sound of heavy panting and of Darlings tail smacking against the floor was easily heard and recognized, though it was muffled. Was darling, writhing in pain!?

"Darling are you okay!?" Miia roared in a panic as she swung the door open and moved inside, before becoming too stunned to move. Her own nightgown was more like a long red Bathrobe, and was completely unlike the lingerie she had brought with her, and had only once worn ( though she didn't remember it well). If she had expected to see what was in front of her though, she thought she maybe would have wanted to be wearing it.

Darling's room was normally the epitome of clean and organized, but now it looked like an utter mess. The table that normally sat in it was sideways against the wall, his desk was fallen over, and his one small bookcase was in pieces, with its books all over the floor. The covers of her bed were strewn across the floor, the mattress cover was pulled up almost completely, and the curtain rod had been knocked off the wall, currently sitting at the foot of the bed in a bent and mangled mess.

Sitting in the middle of it all, Darling was laying on her back on the bed. Her tail was draped down onto the floor and was twitching in every direction whole it would flail madly for a second every few moments. Her breathing was heavy and ragged while a thick sweat trickled down her completely naked body. Her arms were wrapped around her belly, gripping her waist on each side with so much strength she was making visible marks, and that any more would likely cause her to bleed.

"D-darling?" Miia asked, not 100 percent sure about what was going on immediately.

"Ugh, ah, M- Miia?" Kimi asked as she turned her head to the doorway. her eyes were glazed over and unfocused, and her face was flushed bright red like a strawberry or apple.

"Darling are you okay?" Miia asked as she slid further into the room, her tail nudging the door closed as a single thought passed her mind. Was darling, Horny?

It wasn't an unheard of thing of course, But Lamia normally only became so when it was either a full moon or during the spring in many cases. It wasn't a full moon out, and being near the end of summer a Lamia's body would normally be a little more resistant to becoming aroused due to the potential of oncoming hibernation, so what had caused her to become so horny like this? And possibly more importantly, was Darling unable, or unwilling to do anything about it?"

" N, no, I- my bodies so hot!" Kimi said raggedly, her voice coming out like sweet honey. "It's unbearable, I – I just can't take it!"

"Then, um, why haven't you done something about it!?" Miia asked as she moved closer, allowing her to notice that it wasn't just her face, but her entire body that was covered in sweat.

" I can't. . . I- it's so hard, holding back everyone's advances, In the first place, but this, I - I'm not sure if, if I can, do it, I just, I don't want to cross that line, but. . . . But I, I can't hold back much more."

Miia looked at Kimi and blinked. She said she had been holding back everyone's advances. That meant that all of them had had an effect, and that darling had such a strong sense of control and right versus wrong that he had always held back. It meant she, and everyone else had for a long time, been pushing Darling when the law had always stated they could not go all the way.

That alone made Miia fall even further for darling, but it also caused a thought to pop into her head, a devious thought. Darling was currently both a girl, and a Lamia, so if she 'helped her' she would be breaking no laws whatsoever. Right?

Miia knew that many Lamia would often, 'practice' with each other when there were no men around, and while she hadn't done it herself, (wanting her first time to be with one that she chose) she knew many other Lamia's that had 'practiced' with each other, and such practicing was a semi common topic back home depending on the time of the year. Even without having joined in, Miia understood the principles of pleasing another person quiet well, whether they be a human, or a Lamia.

The problem with that however was that would mean that she would be doing it with Darling, but when he was a woman, not himself. as she always wanted to have her first time with the man she now loved, Miia found it quite a painful situation, until she looked at darling again and found both a pain and longing in her glazed over eyes.

"D-Darling," Miia spoke up with a slight stutter as she moved over to Kimi's bed, lowering her body down as she went until he was basically leaning on the mattress beside Kimi. "You don't have to hold back you know. b-but, if it's a problem for you, or you aren't sure what to do I- I could . . .help you."

Kimi looked at Miia and drew in a pained breath. "But, that would mean, you, um, but that's not allowed and-"

"The law said a human and Liminal cannot, um be together, at least until they fix that law, but there's no law even among Lamia's saying that they cannot um, practice pleasuring the other. it's actually, not uncommon." Miia explained as she fidgeted slightly before lifting up away from the bed so that her whole body was in Kimi's view as she reached down and untied the cord that held her night gown shut.

Kimi was quiet for a few moments as she watched Miia's nightgown slip off her shoulders and fall to the floor, exposing her now naked body in the moonlight that filtered in from the window. Her skin was flawless, her hips were wide and well-shaped, and her large breasts looked even more inviting in the moonlit darkness of Kimi's room. This was the body that had first begun to tempt her, and now it was merely standing in front of her, asking permission. "B-but, is it, alright with you?"

Hearing those words caused Miia's body to flush with happiness. Even now her darling was thinking about her before herself, and that made her extremely happy, and even more willing to help her out in any way she could. "Yes, it's fine." Miia responded with a smile as she slowly slithered back towards the bed, her ample hips swaying elegantly in the dim room as if enticing and inviting Kimi's gaze. "Will you let me help you?"

Kimi looked at Miis's body in the moonlight and was unable to speak. Kimi's body was flushed with heat and longing that had been slowly building all day long, an at this point, resisting was the last thing on her mind. And if it didn't break any laws, at least she wouldn't have to worry about any fallout from it, they were both girls at the moment after all. Finally Kimi merely nodded while her gaze was still glued to Miia's body.

Accepting Kimi's silent yes, Miia moved to the end of Kimi's bed and slowly slithered up it, going over Kimi's tail and lying between her and the wall, allowing her tail to flick and move about a bit as it loosely wrapped only once around Kimi's. "okay then, I admittedly haven't done this with someone before so, is there anything you want to-"

Kimi didn't let Miia finish her sentence as she move forward, and spurred on by her lust, planted her lips on Miia's. Immediately Miia was surprised to feel Kimi's tongue lash out into her own mouth, but she quickly got into it, and allowed her tongue to join in.

After what felt like a blissful eternity both of their lips parted, allowing Miia to take a breath as Kimi did the same and spoke. "I- I'm sorry, Miia, this body, I just can't, hold back!"

"It's alright." Miia said with a smile as her hand slid up Kimi's hips and side, causing her to yelp suddenly. "You've ended up getting me into it too now."

At Miia's words her hand suddenly slid down to the arch of Kimi's back and pulled her closer as their lips met again, exploring each other's mouths as Miia's other hand slid under her body and began gripping Kimi's hip.

Kimi's body squirmed at the sudden additional and new feelings, but was unable to move due to Miia's grip on her body, and even her tail had trouble moving as Miia began wrapping around it with an almost tactical precision.

She felt Miia's hands on her back and hips, gracefully caressing them while holding her in place. She felt Miia's tail wrapping and writhing along her own, adding to the strange feelings. And she felt Miia's long tongue lash in and out of her mouth when it wasn't intertwined with her own.

AS she continued to enjoy the feeling of Miia's mouth Kimi felt Miia's hand move away from her back and didn't think much of it, until she suddenly felt Miia's hand grip at her breast, causing her to pull her head back away and yelp in sudden surprise.

"Mmmm, Lamia normally has larger breasts due to our size, but yours are a little on the small side. they're soft, shapely, and really cute though," Miia nearly purred in an erotic tone as she moved her head forward and trailed her tongue up Kimi's neck from her collarbone all the way to her ear, causing a shiver to run though her uncontrollably.

"Aahn! Why, why are they so sensitive!?" Kimi squeaked out as her body trembled.

"Oh they aren't as much as they could be." Miia said as her other arms slipped back under Kimi, peeked between their bodies and pinched. "These however –"

" AAAAHH!" Kimi moaned as her hips forcibly jumped forward into Miia's while her tail tensed and tightened around Miia's.

"Ah, me, me too, okay darling?" Miia forced as she let go of Kimi's breast and moved on of Kimi's hands onto her own breast, forcing a squeeze out of them before returning to Groping kimi's.

"Ah, they're really soft; you said most Lamia's are larger?" Kimi asked as she brought her other hand to Miia's other breast and began working them with her hands quite willingly, as if embracing their feel.

"Mm, yeah," Miia said with a tense coo. "I'm just slightly over average because of my mom, but all Lamia are pretty large. Ah, right there!"

Answering Miia's words Kimi worked harder and they both quickly lost Track of time, content to simply bask and bathe in the other caress and touch. By the time the two of them finally let out cries of relief, they were bound together by knotted tails, and were too weak to care to uncoil themselves from the other, and quickly fell into a deep, warm, slumber.


	6. CH6 - coils of confusion - out in town

"Aaawww, morning." Miia said with a yawn as she slithered into the living room. Her nightgown was ruffled as her hair was, and it nearly falling off her one shoulder, clearly saying she had yet to take a morning bath to warm up, probably due to how warm it already was.

"Good morning Miia, I'm surprised you're up this early on your own."

" Well I was already warm from being with darling' naked body all night so i-" Miia began to reply until she rubbed her eyes and looked to see that the one who had spoken up, was Mrs. smith who was sitting in the living room with her legs crossed. Rachnee, Mero, Centorea and Lala were the only others in the living room, and all of them looked, strangely happy about something, at least until Mia had begun to speak.

"Wh-wh-what!? what do you mean you-" Centorea exclaimed in a panicked anger, but was held back by Mrs. smith merely raising a hand up.

"Now now, there's no need to get angry Centorea, if I'm correct, it was a good thing that Miia did. After all, Darling was insanely horny, west she Miia?"

Miia was quiet for many moments before she used a hand and slipped the sagging shoulder of her nightgown up onto her shoulder. "H-how did you-"

"Because of this!" Mrs. Smith said as she picked up the last remaining Tsul fruit that hadn't been eaten the day before off the living room table. "when these arrived I hadn't thought much of it, at least until Rachnera called me last night about them, so I did some research. The Tsul fruit, is a Lamia cultivated fruit, known for the aphrodisiac qualities of its juice, and the juices oil is a major ingredient in Lamia Serpent incense*, the same kind that they use to make men go insane with lust to make them a tribe husband." Mrs. Smith exclaimed as she glared at Miia with a nearly piercing gaze from just over her slipping sunglasses.

"Uh, it is?" Miia asked, clearly confused by this information. "I thought it was just used as a dye."

"it can be, and it is clear you did not know about its uses as from what information we have, only certain Lamia's know how to create serpent incense, and now of its ingredients. Youer mother is one of them of course, but I do not blame you for not knowing what was going on."

"Ugh, I shoulder known something was going on!" Miia scolded herself, then opened his eyes I realization. "Wait, serpent incense doesn't affect Lamia's, is it the same for Tsul fruit?"

"From what we have found out, yes, it only affects humans, male or female." Mrs. Smith replied.

"Then why did it affect Darling when she's a Lamia right now?"

"That's why I'm here actually. I discovered that the fruits juice itself has only a minor effect on its own to humans, but the effect is amplified when they become aroused. It wouldn't normally effect Lamia, so I believe that is a good sign as to LTS almost having run its course through darling. If she hasn't turned back today, she likely will tomorrow." Mrs. Smith explained intelligently, clearly having done substantial research to be able to say it so surely.

"Ah this quiet good news then!" Centorea said with a nod of her head.

"So, should I go get Darling then so she can hear the news then!?" Miia asked with a smile, clearly enjoying the news as well.

"Please do Miia, but bring Darling right here," Mrs. Smith stated as she slipped her sunglasses off and placed then in her shirt pocket. "I have something else to give darling while I'm here as well."

In an instant Miia was gone without a sound, allowing Rachnee to smile to Mrs. Smith. "Something else?"

"Yes, something I've been meaning to bring for a while now, but I kept forgetting honestly. If Darling still is a Lamia, it would be good to make use of it while she can, to see what it's like."

Mero, Centorea and Lala seemd confused at Mrs. Smiths' words, Rachnee just smiled in understanding. A few moments later Miia came back into the room fully clothed, though her hair was still as messy as a bird nest, and behind here slithered a very tired looking Kimi, whose short hair somehow looked even more uncontrollable than Miia's. "Ugh, morning. What's going on exactly?"

"Good morning darling, did you have a good sleep perhaps?" Mrs. Smith asked.

Kimi looked up to Mrs. Smith and blinked a few times. "Ah Mrs. Smith, why are you here?"

"I'm here to deliver something to you actually." Mrs. Smith said as she pulled something out of her pocket and held it in her hands as she spoke. "Unless something strange happens, LTS should finish running it's course through you by tomorrow."

"Oh good!" Kimi said with a thankful sigh.

"Yes, I figured you would like that information, which is also partly why I've brought these." Mrs. Smith said as she took out two red pieces of laminated plastic, shaped almost like ID cards.

". . . What are they?"" Kimi asked as she moved further into the living room.

"They are what are known as Outing Permits. They were finally approved last week, though I had trouble getting them approve for your house. I was only able to get you two of them unfortunately."

"b-but what are they?" Miia asked, clearly interested in them just by their name alone.

"Outing permits allow any liminal holding them to leave the home of their Study and go out on their own for the day. To put it simply, they allow any of you to leave the house without darling tagging along, though in her current situation she would need to carry one if she went out as well." Mrs. Smith explained with a grin as she then held them up between her fingers and pointed the two of them at Miia and Kimi, "So why don't the two of you get out of the house for a bit?"

"What!?" Miia roared in surprise at what Mrs. Smith suggested.

"I have to agree with Miia, is it such a good idea for master to leave the house when nearing the end of LTS's effects?" Cerea asked in a worried tone.

"Aw it'll be fine, Darling Kimi needs to get out of the house, don't you think?" Rachnnera said with a smile, "Besides, don't you think it would be a good chance to see how the city views us Liminals?"

"That was why I was suggesting it actually, it would be good for you to see how things are for Liminals in the city when you're not around them as a human, and don't you think?" Mrs. Smith asked Kimi with a smile.

Kimi looked around at everyone as they gave nods of agreement, and then sighed to her. "Alright."

"Yaaa! A Date with darling! Let me go get ready!" Miia nearly shrieked as she bolted out of the room, dragging Kimi out with her, hopeful to fix her hair and wake her fully up.

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After having her hair forcibly, and almost painfully, combed and tidied up, Kimi thought she and Miia wold have left. But then she was stuck waiting while Miia decided what to wear, something that took just over an hour. Just when Miia was done though, she declared that Kimi needed to wear different clothing if going out too, and took almost another hour deciding what to dress Kimi up in before they finally left the house and headed to the shopping district.

The shopping district was as busy at it normally was, but as Jimi slithered beside Miia down the street she began to feel something . . . . Off about it all. As they went down the street the two of them occasionally looked at different foods for dinner, and each time they did the shopkeeper greeted them with a smile like they always did. These shops had become common placed to get food for Kimi after Lala began home-staying with them, but even so, every shopkeepers voice seemed tinged by something because of her presence.

"Thank you! We'll be back again!" Miia exclaimed with a smile as she took the bag of groceries that Kimi just bought from the shopkeeper before the two of them continued down the street. After a few meters Miia looked to Kimi with an odd expression and intentionally bumped her hip into Kimi's, knocking her out of her internal stupor. "Something wrong darling?"

"Um, no I just, thought they were talking a little odd to us. Was I imagining things?"

Miia's mood seemed to slip ever so slightly as she shook her head. "No, you weren't. I think it was just nerves you were noticing. Without you here, as a human at least, I think they were just worried they would offend or something like that. Honestly it's normally a lot worse."

"It's normally worse? Even when I'm around?"

Miia nodded. "Yeah, we don't give it to much attention though, so you probably haven't noticed." Miia explained as she looked around and smiled, hefting the bag of groceries up. "These don't need the fridge right?"

"No, there dry goods, spices mainly. Why?"

"Let's go get something to eat, okay?"

"Oh, right, we kind of skipped breakfast, and lunch, didn't we." Kimi said with a chuckle as the two of them turned down the street.

"Yeah. there's a café just down the street here right? Could we stop there for something?"

"okay. "Kimi replied with a smile as the two of them made their way to the café.

Reaching the café and getting sat down and their orders taken Kimi had a chance to glance around at the surroundings, and found it slightly unsettling. There were numerous people walking down the streets and biking, but each time she looked toward them she found they would turn their gaze away from her, even faster if they had been staring directly at her. Another café across the street, that wasn't liminal friendly in its menu or size, had a packed patio, and she could see people glancing at her and Miia, commenting to each other in whispers.

"It's not an open thing, but a lot of people talk behind our back when they think we aren't looking." Miia suddenly spoke up, causing Kimi to look over to find her leaning back in her chair with her hands stretched behind her head, a pose that seemed to accentuate her bust unconsciously.

"B-but why?" Kimi asked as she glanced across the street and then back to miia.

"Because they're afraid of what they don't understand," Their server, who appeared to be a young kobold girl, said as she walked up to their table and slid a single ray with both their foods on it onto the table with a smile. "That café's been pretty bad actually; it's enough to almost make you think they hope to only serve those who don't like us liminals. You must be new to the city yeah?"

Kimi looked at the kobold for a moment before she realized she was questioning her, and not Miia. in hind sight it made sense though, she was asking question that appeared to be common knowledge to liminals. "Uh, yeah, sorry."

"Aw don't apologize, if anything they should." The kobold girl said with hint of sass in her voice. "They sit there and gossip about liminals, but not a one of them has ever actually spoken to any a far as I know. It's stupid really. If they let their curiosity control them, they'd learn we're not so different." She complained as she turned and walked away with a wave. " Anyway, enjoy your food!"

"Uh thanks!" Kimi replied as she looked down at her food and then up to Miia, who was already eating. "Is that really how it is?"

Miia looked up at Kimi, set down her food and wiped her mouth before nodding. " Yeah kind of. It's both better and worse than it was when I first came here and began staying with you though. A lot of people are really open and accepting of liminals now, but them being so accepting makes those who don't accept us more obvious."

Kimi nodded silently in understanding as she ate her food silently thinking to herself. How had she not noticed how so many people were so obviously against liminals? Had she not noticed because she hadn't been the target of these people's expressions before, or because she was too worried with helping everyone at home? The question worried her slightly, but the truth that there was probably no simple answer made her shake her head as she finished her food, and decided she needed to lighten the mood a bit.

"Ah, that was tasty. Is there anywhere you want to go Miia?"

Miia looked from her now empty plate as she continued chewing, looking like she was considering Kimi's words. After a few moments Miia's eyes seemed to light up with an idea, bringing a smile to her face. "I can think of a place. I know there's no point for you to go as you'll be turning back, but I saw something about a clothing store that opened nearby that specializes in liminal clothing, and liminal style clothing for humans. Could we go take a look?"

". . . it's not a lingerie store right?" Kimi asked nervously, causing a deviously sly grin to slither onto Miia's face.

"Oh, did you want to hit a lingerie store Darling?" Miia teased with a grin.

"No, not really. I just don't want to go through that again if I can help it."

"I'm just teasing, though if you did want to go to one we could and no one would even look at you strangely like before!" Miia said with a laugh.

". . . So, it's a clothing store that sells liminal styled clothing, or clothing for liminals?"

"Both actually, that's why I want to o and check it out. I need a few new shirts at the least, and Cerea and Papi said they did too. . . now that I think about it, Rachnee could use some more clothing too probably."

"I guess. . . . Okay, let's go check it out, where is it anyway?"

"If I recall the ad I saw, it should only be a block or two further into the city!" Miia explained as she got out of her chair when Kimi did, the two of them quickly doing away with their meal tray and heading off down the street.

Going down the street was a rather uneventful thing, besides from Kimi noticing a police officer very angrily giving a ticker to a group of motorcyclists in heavy leather jackets, and within half an hour they came to a large departments store that up until a few months ago had been closed for renovations. apparently the renovations had been to make it liminal friendly and to expands their stock.

Upon entering the store Kimi noticed a few things very different from other clothing stores. the walking areas were almost three times the normal size in any store, and the displays and clothing racks, while larger and sturdier looking, were further apart, allowing easy access around them from any direction. the ceiling itself was even taller than a normal department stores as well, and Kimi figured even people like Tio would not even feel close to the roof.

within a minute of them coming into the store and glancing around at the amazing selection a Young cat boy in a slim yet somehow casual suit stepped around from the counter to them with a smile and quickly explained that the departments areas were divided by race and that the human versions of traditional liminal clothing's were usually to a side of those same clothing.

Following his direction Kimi and Miia moved up a series of long ramps that replace where stairs would be, and found themselves on the third floor, where Lamia, Mermaid other similar species' cultural clothing was located; And immediacy Miia seemed to bolt into the racking with renewed vigor.

"Ah these are completely accurate!" Miia exclaimed as she looked over what appeared to be an entire rack of varying style of bikini tops. Most of them had colorful patterns on them, and many had more than just one or two straps. Some had multiple pieces of cloth in them, others were made of a single piece, but no matter the difference, they all held one thing in common. No matter the size of what girl wore them, they looked like they would revealed quite a bit of skin around them, and appeared to accentuate what they covered, pushing them in or up, or both.

"Hmm, is this the same one your mother was wearing when she came by?" Kimi asked as she noticed a bikini top that looed insanely familiar, in fact the only thing that didn't look familiar was the smaller size of the cup.

Miia looked away from the rack she was in front of and slithered over to Kimi's side and looked at the top in question with a nod. "Yeah it's the same kind of pattern; it's a pretty common one for a lot of Lamia tribes."

"Oh I see. . . . Is it normal for them all to be like this?"

"What do you mean Darling?"

"I mean, they all look like bikini tops, or are similar in style. Is that a cultural thing?" Kimi asked as she looked around for regular, or not bikini style tops, and could not find any.

"Yeah kind of." Miia said as she moved over and pulled a top that appeared to be a single shoulder top of its rack and showed it to Kimi as she spoke. "Lamia are cold blooded, so we naturally only liv in warm climates. Because of that and out skins inability to burn due to our shedding and scales, heavy clothing was never something we needed. Also, because were an all-female species, we need to get the attention of men easier, and for those with and, aversion to snakes, our breasts proved most effective for this. So a lot of cultural Lamia clothing shows off as much skin as could be considered safe. I'm thinking I'll need to find some long sleeved shirts for when winter comes though."

"That would probably be an idea." Kimi replied with a smile as she looked around and found the 'human' area of the Lamia section. most of the clothing looked the same in its style and it's patterning, the main difference was the cup sizing's, and the fact that many of them were cut different to sow off a little less skin, though not much it appeared. It drove the point of Lamia's being larger breasted home quiet well, though it likely wasn't the point of it.

"This store has a really great variety though!" Miia suddenly exclaimed as she moved around. "If every section is this well stocked, I think everyone will love coming here sometimes to go shopping!"

"yeah, we'll have to ask who needs anything ,and if their up for it."

"Agreed, I think everyone will probably like this place!"

"Yeah. I'll be over here, so just say when you want to get going okay?"

"Oh, that's fine Darling, I wasn't planning on buying today, just checking the place out, so we can head on back if you'd like?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

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Mrs. Smith sat in MON's office as the evening sun was slowly being swallowed by the horizon, sending warm orange rays into it as the only light. They'd need to turn on the room's actual lights soon, but until then, the evening sun was light enough, and the atmosphere it created was a calm one.

The fact that she had gotten no calls of events or problems occurring all day was a nice bonus to that fact, and as the sun dipped down she let out a content sigh.

Then her phone rang. Once, twice, three times. As much as Mrs. Smith waited it didn't stop, and after a few moments the little red light on it began blinking, telling her it was an important call, and that if she waited much longer her superiors would be less than pleased.

"Hello, this is Smith." Mrs. Smith said as she picked up the phone with a sigh, hoping her nearly perfect days wasn't about to be shattered at the last moment.

It was.

"A new strain? Of LTS? Are you sure?" Mrs. Smith asked to the one on the lines other end. The information was not good, but it wasn't horrible. It just meant she wasn't about to go home, or sleep, anytime soon. "Alright, I'll leave immediately. . . . Yes I'll see you in a few hours. . . . yes, until then goodbye."

"Is I just me, or did that sound like an all-nighter?" Doppel asked from her seat in the corner of the office where she was lying upside down in her chair.

"Yes, unfortunately a Mutant Strain of LTS has popped up and we need to go investigate for the biologists looking into LTS."

"A mutant strain? Oh, does it turn people into zombies!" Zombina asked from her desk, sounding far to hopeful about the idea.

"No." Mrs. Smith answered as she slipped her sunglasses on and stood up from her chair, "it's changed someone who was human into a liminal, and then into another one instead of back to human."

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Kimihito Kurusu opened his eye and liked up at the ceiling in his room. The morning light was peering in though his curtain-less window, as he hadn't gotten around to putting the curtain back up, and landed directly on his face. the fact that he wasn't feeling groggy by default like he did for the past few days as a Lamia caused him to smile and sit up, but when he placed his hand down beside him, it landed in something sticky and slimy, causing him to sit up further and look down.

"OH NOT AGAIN!"

 *** for those that don't know, serpent incense appears In chapter 27, where Miia's mother comes to visit.**


	7. CH7 - Awfully aquatic - Problems

"MON Headquarters, Tionishia speaking!" Tio said in a bubbly voice as she picked up the ringing phone in MON's office.

"Hello Tio, it's Centorea calling, is Mrs. smith there?"

"Oh, hello Centorea!" Tio exclaimed happily with a roar "Mrs. Smith is off in Hokkaido on some business with Manachi actually, is something wrong?"

"Yes well, it's about master actually. He, or she as it is, hasn't returned to his human state as Mrs. Smith said she would."

Tio thought to herself for a moment before the information dawned on her. "Oh, maybe she caught that new strain of LTS! Did he turn into another liminal then?"

"Well, y-yes, and he is still a woman as well."

"Okay, I'll call Mrs. smith and tell her hr what's happened."

"Thank you kindly,"

"Oh, what Kind did he turn into this time?

"Well, Master has turned into-"

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"An eel, our beloved has become an eel." Mero stated as fact from her wheelchair. Everyone besides Cerea was in the living room, including Kimihito/Kimi, who was sitting on the reclining chair in the skirt and top that Miia had loaned her from her time as a Lamia. Her tail was nearly the same length as when she was a Lamia, but was a muted blue black in its color, and had a short dorsal bit coming out of the middle of its entire length.

unlike when she was a Lamia however, there were now pelvis fins coming out from just below her hips, just like the ones Mero had, and much to Kimi's annoyance, her tail seemed to be covered in a strange slime that got on anything she moved over, meaning it was all over the flor from her room to the living room, though luckily it seemed to evaporate over time without leaving any noticeable residue.

her hair was the same short length as before, and also like when a lamia, her breasts were not very large, C-cups at the most, though it was a little more obvious now, as the slime from her body seemed to be slowly seeping into the shirt of Miia's she was wearing, as well as the skirt to a lesser degree.

"An - an Eel? Miia asked in horror. "b-but Darling was supposed to go back to being human! Smith never said anything about this!?"

"Is it possible that that he caught LTS again?" Papi asked rom her perch on the back of Darlings chair where she was crouched.

"Perhaps, or maybe it's even a different strain of it." Rachnee suggested as Cerea came slowly back into the room, her head hung low. "So, what did Mrs. Smith say then?"

Cerea looked up and shook her head. "Mrs. Smith is in Hokkaido on business, but Tio said that there's a new strain of LTS." Cere explained as she looked over to Kimi. "One that does exactly this. Turns a human into a liminal, then into another."

"That seems pretty obvious though, did Tio say anything else?" Kimi asked with a sigh, her voice sounding ever so slightly more mature than when she was a Lamia.

"No. the new stain just recently appeared so they do not know much of it. She did say that he would tell Mrs. Smith however."

"Okay, thanks for calling them Cerea." Kimi said with a smile that somehow caused Cere to blush and she sat down on the floor at a corner of the living rooms table.

"Well that deals with the one issue, but there's still the issue of Darling being an Eel!" Miia piped up, sounding more than slightly angry, as if her alone time with darling when she was a Lamia was suddenly in jeopardy, which it technically was.

"It's not. . . .That big of a problem. I can, move around for the . . . most part because, you helped me earlier, Miia." Kimi said with a soft smile that caused Miia to blush, and then promptly enter her own little fantasy world for a few moments.

"That might be true, but you'll still have the problems of before, like your tail being stepped on." Cerea said as she looked at Kimi with sight worry, though she wasn't sure initially why.

"Yeah, but I . . . think I can deal with, it.

"Hmm, are you alright Kimi?" Rachnee suddenly asked in a slightly worried tone. "You don't sound too good.

"I'm, having a bit of trouble breathing. . . . But it's, not that big of . . . of a deal." Kimi stated between gasps, making no ne believe her.

No one said anything for a moment as they considered why she would have trouble breathing, and then after a moment of silence, Mero gasped in realization. "Take off your shirt beloved!" She quickly demanded, causing everyone to look at her in surprise, especially Kimi.

"Um, what?" Kimi asked as she seemed to move further back into her chair, causing her shirt to shift and reveal her one shoulder, revealing the fact that she was wearing nothing under it.

"Take off your shirt quickly; it's why you're having trouble breathing!" Mero stated as she rolled her wheelchair over, then realized she would be unable to force the soaked shirt off of Kimi's body. "Papi, off with beloved's shirt!"

"Roger!" Papi replied to Mero's order as she hopped up into the air, one of her clawed feet grabbing the shirt by its collar and forcibly flinging it straight off Kimi's body and against the roof with a wet smack.

"Ah, what was that for!" Kimi exclaimed in a panic as her arms crossed over her now bare chest. despite the fact that everyone present was a woman, the fact that she had been am an until just recently made it still significantly embarrassing.

"The wet shirt was stopping air from easily getting into your gills, making it hard to breath, so with it removed you can now breathe again, yes?" Mero explained with a smile as she clapped both of her hands together beside her head.

"What, ah! I can breathe alright now?" Kimi exclaimed as she realized what Mero said was correct, but then found herself confused. "Wait, if mermaids and eels are that similar, how do you breath when wearing your usual clothing when we go out? I mean, in the house you just wear your swimsuit, but how do you breath with that full gothic dress then?"

"Ah, yes. All aquatic species breath through our gills, and as long as they are wet we can breathe out of water because out gills will filter the air through the mucus that covers them. But if our gills are directly covered by anything, it impeded our ability to breath, like if someone put their hand over your mouth or nose." Mero began to explain.

"Ah that makes sense. . . does that mean that Darling and you are not breathing through your mouths or nose?" Rachnee asked after a moment of consideration, likely deciding how to most effectively word her question.

"Yes and no. Aquatic species breathe out through our mouths and nose's when we are out of water. in water we breathe in and out through our gills. Because beloved's shirt was soaked through it was clinging to her body, and sticking against her gills which made it difficult to breath."

"Ah, so it my shirts fault then." Miia said with a sigh before perking up. "Wait, why is your gothic dress never soaked then?"

"It is a specifically made dress for mermaids and aquatic species to wear outside of water. The inside is lined with material often used in swimsuits, so it's waterproof on the inside to stop our mucus from being absorbed by the cloth. It's also looser fitting than it looks, so it doesn't cause a problem with my gills."

"Ah, wait, does that mean master will have to, wear your clothing to be able to breath!?" Cerea asked, causing Miia to show a look of horror. One that Kimi mirrored for different reasons.

"Um, that would be the best in all likelihood. Though, I do not think most of my wardrobe would fit, or suit you." Mero said as she looked to Kimi who could only let out a sigh.

"This is going to suck." Kimi said with a second sigh, hanging her head lower then before, while still covering her chest.

"It would beat you suffocating master, and it would also be a good idea to be wearing something to be decent." Cerea said before glancing around at everyone as she spoke. "Considering that Lady Mero is the most understanding of the situation, I believe she should look after finding some clothing for master, and making sure she knows all she will need too to not hurt herself. Just as Miia did."

"That sounds like a good idea I think."Rachnee agreed causing Miia to grow sour.

"But Darling already can move around because of me, so what else does she need to know to do things!?"

"Perhaps the knowledge of how to swim and care for the mucus on her body, or perhaps how to wear clothing around the fins at her waist? The reason are still many." Cerea stated, promptly ending Miia's argument before she could really begin building on it.

"Alright then, we should go get you one of my tops first then!" Mero exclaimed with a wide smile as she moved her wheelchair awkwardly to the front of Kimi's chair. "Would you be willing?"

Kimi nodded and got up awkwardly off the chair, slipping on the floor slightly as she grabbed the wheelchairs handles and began pushing it out of the living room. It was difficult as the weight was causing her tail to slip about, but once she got it moving they made it into the hall easily. as they approached Mero's room Kimi couldn't help but notice the string at the back of Meros's neck and was reminded of the many numerous times her clothing had slipped off at regrettable times because of her mucus. Was she going to have that same problem with clothing? and better yet, was she going to be able to handle what was about to happen?

 **Authors note: Aha, another chapter up rather fast! I'm guessing most people were not expecting this, Mero being the next girl to be beside during LTS I mean, but I hope everyone is enjoying the story thus far! Things are only going to get more hectic after all!**


	8. CH8 - Awfully aquatic - Gills

Kimi glared up at the ceiling of her room with a heavy head, and an even heavier feeling across her entire body. The entire day before was supposed to have been when she became human, and a man, again, but instead she had turned into an eel. the entire day afterword's was spent dealing with Mero, and the simple fact that none of her full outfits would fit her well, and that the few spare Bikini tops she had looked wrong on her because of their size difference.

That entire situation had been despair and embarrassment inducing, and the fact that Mero had been adamant that the two of them would go out into the city to buy her some clothing to suit her had made that fact even worse. She didn't even want to get out of her bed.

unfortunaly if she didn't, she was certain that someone would come knocking, as Mero had made it well known that she was adamant on getting some aquatic styled clothing for her to wear, oen way or another. only he two of them would be able to leave the house due to the two outing permits, but that still didn't make the situation and more bearable.

the fact of the matter was that she had to get up and she knew it, but to do so, she had to get whateer was one her off.

Pushing herself up in her bed she found that the covers of her bed were all completely soaked through, and because of it, they seemed heavier than normal, far heavier. When she tried to push them off, she found they were wrapped tightly around her body, getting stuck on the pelvic fin coming out of her hips, almost where legs would be, but not quite. The more she struggled the tighter they seemed to get, until finally it dawned on Kimi that struggling wasn't the right thing to do, so she simply rolled off her bed, causing the sheets to come with her and fall about around her.

Attempting to tidy up the covers Kim sighed at how pointless it was, and then began bundling them all up instead to bring them down to the wash later, then realized that she had slept in the nude to not have her pajamas get soaked as well. She would need to throw something on before dealing with her soaked sheets.

"Huh, this is so much more trouble than it was worth before." Kimi complained to herself as she threw on one of Miia's borrowed shirts and hoped it would take a while to soak so she could deal with her sheets.

It was still early in the morning, so there wasn't much noise coming from the halls of the house as Kimi stepped out of her room. Cerea was probably on her morning run, and it was possible someone else was up, but the chances were slim. Going down the hall Kimi carefully slid down the stairs, quite literally, and made it to the ground floor amazingly without dropping anything. Her tail may move like the lamia one did, but its slick coating of mucus made the grip she had on some surfaces shaky at best, and apparently wood was one of them. The floors were a problem, but the stairs were a nightmare. With a Lamia's tail all she had to worry about was the odd feeling of the lip of each stair brushing the tail as she went up, but now she had to nearly crawl up the stairs using her now webbed hands.

That was something else that was making things a little bit difficult. Kimi never realized how often she grabbed things with them being held between her fingers, but now that there was webbing there, some things had become substantially harder to grip. The mucus didn't help the matter either.

Reaching the laundry room, that was outside of the bathroom as was common for most homes, Kimi found it closed and the light off, confirming that no one had even stepped inside of it. Once the sheets were in the wash Kimi glanced at the mirror that sat against the wall, taking another look at how sodden the shirt and skirt she was wearing already were, and let out a sigh as she took them off. "May as well dry them and take a bath while I wait. Otherwise I'll have to borrow more clothing from someone."

With that Kimi threw the clothing in the dryer, switched it one, and headed into the bath. as the bath was completely empty Kimi found the bathroom to be rather cold while naked, but unlike when she was a Lamia, the cold wasn't debilitating, and turning on the faucet for the bath posed no problems as she slid into it while it filled.

By the time the tub was filled with enough water Kimi barely had the motivation to move to turn it off. Nearly her entire body was submerged in the water. The warmth was surrounding her, and unlike when she was a Lamia, it felt more complete and wholesome, like she could just enjoy it, and didn't have to depend on it.

Time drifted by aimlessly until Kimi suddenly heard the door to the bathroom click open, and before she could say anything, Miia slithered in, and misled when she saw her. "Ah, Darling! Did you come to join me? . . . . Or I guess I'm joining you huh?"

"Uh, sorry, I'll get out right now and-"

"Aw why not stay, your still la girl after all so why not take advantage of it right!" Miia quickly interrupted as she slithered over, doing nothing to hide her swaying breasts as she moved and stopped outside the tub. "Here, why don't we wash each other's backs, okay?"

Kimi looked at Miia, noticed that she didn't appear to be looking at him lustfully, and sighed as she slowly moved over and out of the bath. "Alright, please do."

"Okay!" Miia exclaimed as she quickly grabbed a sponge and moved over to where Kimi slowly sat herself down on her tail. Miia began almost instantly, and it caused Kimi to let out a content sigh as she worked. After a few moments she heard Miia sigh to herself heavily, and before she could ask why, Miia spoke up, "It was better when you were a Lamia. At least then you went through the same things as me. I just wish you'd turn back to normal already!"

"Well, it can't be helped I guess. Unless they come up with cure or vaccine, we just have to wait for it to run its course."

"Yeah, but Mrs. Smith never said anything about it changing you twice!"

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that myself and – eek!" Kimi suddenly shuddered and her entire body seemed to spasm for a second, causing Miia to lean back in surprise.

"Ah, are you okay darling? What's wrong?"

"R-ribs."

"Ribs?"

"You, rubbed against my ribs, or the um, Gills on them I think." Kimi said as she half twisted her body around, as she placed a hand on her one side over the gills. Apparently they were sensitive, but considering that they were a breathing organ, it made sense.

"Oh, sorry. . . . . ." Miia said as she leaned back forward and seemed to glare at the gills. "Do you really have to go shopping with Mero? I mean you've got the clothes I loaned you, so why should you need to get your own when you'll turn back to a human soon enough!?"

"Well, I guess, but Mero was rather adamant that I need aquatic liminal specific clothing, or I'd be doing laundry multiple times a day." Kimi explained as she took the sponge from Miia and gestured for her to turn around.

"Grr, I know, but if you get your own then that means me loaning you my clothes becomes pointless. It feels like she's trying to get points over me!" Miia stated as she turned around, allowing Kimi to begin scrubbing her back softly with the sponge.

"Um Miia, I'm sure Mero just want to help me through this, just like you helped me, right?" Kimi questioned as she carefully scrubbed Miia's back, hoping she wasn't using to much pressure as she did.

"Mmmmm, I guess you're right." Miia admitted.

After a while the two of them finished and just lazed in the bathtub for a while enjoying the warmth. It was strange as they both had tails still, but Kimi's was now different in its texture, causing Miia to shudder one it went over hers a few times. After a while though the two of them got very comfortable, and of course that's when someone came calling.

"Master are you in the bath?"

"Yes darling is in here with me Centorea!" Miia piped up in an annoyed tone, likely hoping the fact they were in the bath together would make Cerea jealous.

" . . . . I understand. Please hurry and finish bathing master, Lady Mero is looking for you, saying that the two of you should leave sooner rather than later." Cerea responded after a short moment of silence.

"Okay, tell her I'll be out in a moment." Kimi replied as she stood up and move over to the edge of the bath and up out of it while Miia pouted in annoyance.

"Why don't you stay in a bit longer, it's not like Mero can go without you." Miia commented as Kimi moved near the door to the bath and grabbed a towel off the rack which she quickly began to use to dry her head and hair, a habit she had picked up while a Lamia.

"No, there's no point in trying to get away from it at this point sadly. Mero will keep bringing it up it feels like unless I go ahead with it." Kimi said with a sigh, not in the least looking forward of shopping for women's clothing.

"Aww, too bad I can't come with." Miia complained as she moved over to the edge of the bath and rested her arms on it, as she let out another annoyed sigh, tough it was more akin to a low hiss.

"Yeah, but Mrs. Smith only gave us two of those outing permits-"Kimi began to say as she took the towel and began rubbing it across the back, crest and sides to dry herself. "So we, we can only. . . Only- o –o, o . . . ."

"Hmmm? Darling you . . . . what's wrong?!" Miia exclaimed as she looked and realized that Kimi was holding both of her hands to her chest and seemed to be slowly slipping to the ground in pain. In an instant Miia had sprung out of the bath and was beside Kimi, holding her up and trying to get answer out of her. "Darling what's going on, what's wrong? Are you in pain, please tell me!"

Kimi merely gasped at Miia, her eyes wide with panic and pain, and the color slowly draining from her face.

" Beloved! Centorea said you were going to be coming out soon!" Mero's voice suddenly called form the laundry room outside the bath, causing Miia to perk up. If anyone knew what to do, it would be Mero!

"Mero, Something's wrong with Darling!"

Far faster than Miia expected the door to the bath was flung open and Mero's wheelchair slid into the doorway. It caught on the lip on the floor though, causing her to be flung out of it, but Mero simply landed on the floor in her gothic dress, slid across it, and quickly slid herself across the bath to Kimi with an upset look of shock on her face. "Beloved, what's wrong?" Mero asked as she moved nearly on top of Kimi and moved her head right beside Kimi's. In less than a second she leaned away and then grabbed one of Kimi's arms and looked to Miia. "Help me move her back into the bath, quickly!"

"What, but she was just drying herself!" Miia exclaimed as she grabbed Kimi's arm and began moving her with Mero.

"That's the problem!" Mero stated as she took her free hand and placed it on Kimi's gills, causing her to jerk up slightly. "She dried her gills so she can't breathe, and I can't wipe enough of my mucus on to hers in time!"

Miia looked at Mero in confusion for only a second until she realized what exactly had happened, and then with one final motion the two of them threw Kimi toward the bath. Her upper body splashed face first into the bath without a problem, but her lower body remained outside, slumped over the edge of the bath and on the floor, squirming ever so slightly.

"Oh, that probably hit her stomach. That probably hurt." Mero said much more calmly than she had been speaking a moment before.

"Probably, she basically belly flopped the edge of the bath!" Miia exclaimed as the two of them began arguing, and didn't notice the rest of Kimi's tail slowly slide into the tub haphazardly.

After lying in the bath and listening to Miia and Mero argue on what was a topic, but quickly became nothingness, Kimi finally surfaced from the water, feeling like she had gotten hit by a soccer ball in the head, and then had her face stomped in. it wasn't a nice feeling. "So um, what exactly just happened?"

Miia and Mero both stopped arguing and turned to Kimi, Miia standing upright behind Mero's wheelchair, which had at some point ben grabbed and had Mero put back in it. "You don't remember?" Miia asked in a worried tone.

"Not really, I remember drying myself off, then having a hard time breathing, then I woke up in the bath again and you two were arguing." Kimi replied as she rubbed a sore spot on her belly.

"I see. Miia, how long did she look like that before I came by?" Mero asked as she looked to Miia with a sigh.

"Um, about ten, fifteen seconds maybe?"

"I see. I understand what happened here." Mero said as she looked to Kimi with an expression of mixed annoyance and pathetic sadness. "I told you before Beloved, Aquatic liminals need to keep their gills moist to be able to breath out of water, that's what our mucus is for. You stopped being able to breath easily because you ended up wiping the mucus off your gills. The only reason you didn't suffocate instantly is that bathrooms air is moist."

Kimi looked at Mero as she understood the gravity of what had just happened and placed a hand on her face in embarrassment. "Ah, so that's why I can't recall right, lack of oxygen?"

"I'd assume so yes." Mero said quickly, her usual tone having returned, though there was a small twitch to the corner of her mouth.

"Wait, if that happens when you dry yourself, how do you get dry after bathing?" Miia asked after a moment of pondering the topic.

" . . . .We don't, why do you think all of my clothing is waterproof." Mero replied with an 'this is obvious' kind of tone. "when we get out of water it ends up getting absorbed into the mucus on our skin. Its useful because then we're not dripping water everywhere, at least most of the time."

"Oh, I always wondered about that." Miia commented absently before a strange silence fell over the three of them.

"Um, so. Aquatic liminals can't dry themselves?" Kimi asked after a few moments when she became unable to bear the awkward silence."

"We can if were carful and just pat a towel against our bodies lightly, but we only do when were sick, as we often end up producing too much mucus."

"Oh, I see."

"This does however make it very clear that I will need to instruct you much more personally than just giving you tips though." Mero suddenly stated her tone stern and commanding. "We're grabbing one of my dresses for you, and heading out to get you some clothes first of all, and then I shall instruct you!"

". . . Okay," Kimi conceded as she slumped her shoulder and gave in. she didn't give in because she was basically being given an order by royalty, she was giving in because she really had no right to refuse at this point. She had messed up to a point that it had endangered her life, so now she had to deal with it.

And it wasn't going to be terribly enjoyable.

 **Authors note:**

 **Yahoo another chapter and it's because you guys are all awesome! Your reviews, thought and replies are all awesome!**

 **I'll be introducing a little, preparatory side section into the next chapter as a sort of long range preparation, so look forward to it, and if anyone has questions that won't kill my plot, go ahead and ask and I'll answer them in the next chapters notes, so until the next chapter! (Clothing shopping with mermaids)**


	9. CH9 - Awfully aquatic - Clothing or bust

Everyone in the home had had always wondered if Mero had any other styles of clothing beside her bikini tops and gothic dresses', and as Kimi quickly found out she didn't really.

Mero's room was the aptly named, waterproof room. it had a large window at the backside, and a small clothing rack inside the door, but the majority of the room was a large and deep square pool that had almost a meter of walking space on most sides. because of this, and the apparent lack of storage, Kimi had always wondered silently where Mero kept her limited clothing selection.

Thank you or helping me back to my room beloved, now let's get some clothes for you so we can leave, yes?" Mero said as kimi pushed mMero's wheelchair into her room and up to the side of the pool.

"Err, alright."

"Good, give me a minute!" Mero exclaimed as she tossed herself off her wheelchair and into the pool of water with a splash that seemed smaller than her size would warrant. The instant she hit the water she was gone beneath the surface, and a second later a series of lights underneath the water lit up with a pale glow. Kimi couldn't tell anything from another from above due to the waters refraction and it's depth, but she could make out Mero's form moving about and grabbing things from, somewhere. a few moments later, Mero's head and upper body popped out of the water near the edge of the pool where it was low and designed for her to get out, and she was holding a folded gothic dress over her one arm. "Here you go beloved, I know it won't fit very well, but it will keep you fine and wet outside the house without a problem!" Mero stated with a smile as she extended her arm out for Kimi to take the dress, weather she wanted to or not.

"Um, I don't suppose you have a dress that a bit more, casual?" Kimi asked shyly as she took the dress and instantly understood that the whole thing was waterproofed; it barely felt wet even though it had literately just been in the water. No wonder Mero's arrival hadn't increased the laundry loads much.

"I apologize, but I do not. Most mermaids only own a single garment for use above land and instead have multiple sets of clothing for use underwater. I have three of those dresses because I knew I would be doing a homestay and had two more made for myself." Mero explained as she drifted toward the centre of the pool with a smile. " I shall return once I don my own dress."

" Ah wait!" Kimi exclaimed a second too late, as Mero disappeared beneath the water again. " . . .. how do I put this on?"

Kimi sighed and sat down on the mass of her own tail, feeling a squish as the skirt she wore, that was complete soaked already after barely five, maybe ten minutes, got wedged between her tail and butt. after a few minutes it became clear that Mero was doing something and would maybe be a while, so Kimi unfolded the dress and looked it over, never having a chance, nor the reason, to have looked at Mero's clothing so intently.

the dress itself was made almost entirely of the same material most women's swimsuits appeared to be, but unlike a swimsuit, or the clothing she had been wearing recently, borrowed from Miia, the entire dress from the neck all the wat down to the bottom of its skirt was one solid piece of cloth. the lower chest area however appeared to be the only place that was different, and both looked similar to a corset that Kimi had seen in old films, and appeared to be made of a more rigid, yet soft material. the center of this section has a series of strings crossed like the laces of a shoe, and the upper area of the dress appeared be specifically sized to Mero's bust, and appeared to had a wide neckline as well.

" Alright, I'm ready we can leave now and . . . . . Beloved, why are you not dressed yet?" Mero asked as she surfaced at the edge of the pool and began pulling herself out of it with the railings and her pelvic fins. she was now wearing another of her gothic dresses, and it definitely suited her well, and the fact that it was custom made was extremely clear by the way that it did not even shift slightly on her body as her bikini tops could, and did.

" um, that' s. . . . . . how do I put it on?" Kimi asked, slightly embarrassed about the idea of being told how to put on clothing.

" Hmm? you do not know how?" Mero asked as she pulled herself over to her wheelchair and carefully slid up into it, making sure to not catch her dress on anything.

" uh, no. I'm only able to wear a skirt because I had Miia teach me, though these fins make it a bit more difficult." Kimi said as she glared down as one of her pelvic fins twitched slightly.

" I see. well you might have trouble with that skirt because it's not made to go around your pelvic fins. I'll teach you how when we get out shopping, but first let's get the dress on!" Mero stated as she rolled her wheelchair over and took the dress from Kimi's hands, unfolding it before she pulled up its lower section; " Here, take off that shirt and skirt and bend over this way!"

Kimi looked at Mero and sighed, submitting to her fate and reached down and undid the snap on the skirt, letting it slide down a section of her tail limply from how sopping wet it was. once she squirmed the skirt off of her, she slid the now similarly wet shirt off, and stood there for a moment breasted by her nakedness before she finally awkwardly bent at the waist toward Mero.

Instantly Mero moved forward and threw the dress over Kimi's head, carefully pulling it down her body in sections until her arms and head popped out the top." there, now we just need to adjust it!"

"Adjust it?" Kimi asked in confusion as she glanced down at the gothic dress and inwardly cringed slightly. I was long, but not heavy, but just the style felt wrong to wear so readily.

" Yes!" Mero exclaimed as she moved forward, and pushed up the dress's centre section a bit before grabbing an tightening the cords on the front. "Most mermaids clothing for outside of water can be tightened so that is will not slip off as easily. Because of that though, they can take a while to tighten and adjust. so just stay still for a moment as I tighten this." Mero added just before reefing on the string and causing a tight tug across Kimi's lower chest, right under her breasts.

"Aah, it's tight!"

" it has to be, otherwise it will slip." Mero said as she tied it and then moved onto the wide collar around Kimi's neck and began shifting it, before pulling out a thin hidden string that held it together at the desired width. " There, how does that feel for you?" Mero then politely asked as she rolled her wheelchair back a few feet.

Kimi stood fully back up and looked herself over in embarrassment. the dress went down to just below where here knee's would have been if she had legs, and was tight across her torso and open around her neck. it showed no cleavage, but just barely, and it felt embarrassing to be even wearing, especially since her smaller bust made the dress seem all the more, perfect for her body type. " embarrassing." Kimi finally answered as she passed a hand across the more rigid lower torso corset area. "Um, wouldn't tight clothing impede breathing? Through gills I mean."

"It would for other clothing, but aquatic clothing that has tight areas, or cloth that would go over gills has it made out of materials that breathe and hold water, so it's no problem." Mero replied with a smile as she turned her wheelchair and rolled it towards the door in a slightly awkward manner. "Shall we?"

"What?

"Shall we head out then and get you some more appropriate clothing of course."

Kimi felt her stomach drop at Mero's words, especially when she thought about the fact that Mero though a bikini to and skirt were appropriate for in the house. Not that she felt she'd actually be able to say it, considering how open liminals seemed to be about nudity and sexuality. " Alright, let's get this over with."

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There were a few places nearby that Mero and Kimi could have gone to look for clothing for kimi, and much to her thanks, Mero voiced a desire to check out the new liminal department store that Kimi and Miia had gone too, a store that was a short hours walk with Mero's wheelchair, but was far enough away that probably nobody would recognize them. Not that anyone would likely recognize Kimi in her situation, but she wasn't about to take a chance on that.

The sidewalks were rather empty considering the day and time, and there was nothing that occurred until they made it to the department store, much to Kimi's dismay.

As soon as they entered the store an attendant came up to them, the same young cat boy that Kimi had met when she came here with Miia, and apparently from the way he looked at her, he recognized her. Or at least thought he did for a moment before shaking his head. "Welcome ladies. Do you require an explanation of our stores organization today, or would you prefer to browse and find your way on your own?"

"We shouldn't need a full explanation, but if you could just direct us to the Aquatic liminal area we would be very thankful to you." Mero responded with a soft smile, causing the young cat boy to blush for a moment before composing himself and giving small short bow.

"Ah, of course, you would be looking for the third floor. That is where serpentine, aquatic liminals, and all of our swimwear is. You will find ramps at the stores center to ascend the floors, and between them is an elevator as well. If you require anything simply seek out my fellow employees on each floor's registers."

Mero thanked the boy as Kimi resumed moving her wheelchair, and once they had ascended the ramp up to the second level, she turned and looked up to Kimi with a smile. "He seems nice doesn't he?"

"I guess so. It's his job though, so some of it could just be a cover."

"I think he almost recognized you too. It's lucky that he decided he didn't because of you species change." Mero added with a smile as they began going up the next ramp to the third level.

"Yeah, I'll have to remember to avoid him in the future if we come again when this is all over."

"That would probably be for the best. Oh look here!" Mero suddenly exclaimed as she forcibly rolled her wheelchair forward toward rack of clothing when the two of them reached the third floor. Following behind her Kimi wondered for a second what Mero had found so quickly, and then regretted it. The entire rack, and the entire section behind it was aquatic liminal clothing, and the majority of it appeared to be pairs of bikini tops of various kinds, and matching skirts of various lengths. The patters and coloring on them all ranged from simple single color sets to pairs that looked tie-dyed, and the skirts appeared to range in length from barely a half a foot long, to over a meter.

For quite a while Mero rolled herself around and was picking at various pairs of clothing, but it became clear to Kimi that she wasn't initially looking for her, but for herself, when Mero turned to her and gasped. "Ah, oh dear, I apologize, we're supposed to be looking for clothing for you, not myself. Is there any specific style or color you're looking for? There are some pairs with cute tops over here?"

"Ah, um I do not want anything really, um, that would stand out I mean. Simpler is better. And the more it covers the better." Kimi explained as she moved over, doing her best not to look at anything too specific, in case Mero thought she was eyeing things she found interesting.

" Hmmmm, there wouldn't be many in water clothing that covers a lot because we need our gills uncovered, but I know that there should be, ah here it is!" Mero exclaimed as she rolled over to a wall covered In what looked like one piece dresses' of varying lengths. " These are one piece dress's that Eel's would commonly wear out of water, they are loose around the whole body to allow their mucus to not gathering one spot, and have ties at the waist and neck to make it how tight you ant at these points. Would that work for outerwear at least?"

"Um, I thought we were just getting a simple outfit for inside the house, I really don't need something for outside, especially if I'll be like this for only a week at most."

"No you should have an outfit for going out. Staying inside all the time when you're not used to being confined will hurt your mind and body, so you need to go out at least a bit, especially if you are wanting to get specific groceries yourself. Mero stated very clearly, somehow making it clear that she wasn't going to allow a no, despite not raising her voice in the slightest. "We should at least get you one pair for inside and out!"

Kimi looked on as Mero began pulling pair of clothing out and looking them over, attempting to gauge their size compared to Kimi's, then after a few moments she pulled a few out and placed them on her lap and turned to Kimi.

"I think these shall fit you well enough, but we'll have to ask a store attendant to take your size to be sure so let's go and- oh excuse me!" Mero suddenly called, noticing an attendant walking nearby, who came over as soon as she heard Mero's voice.

"Yes, are you ladies finding everything alright?" The female attendant who looked to be a Lamia, but with off thick green strands of hair, asked as she came over soundlessly. Her body's shape put Miia's to shame and the curve of her hips and of her body gave Kimi the feeling that she was at least the age of Miia's mother, and actually appeared to act like it, thankfully.

"Yes, my friend here hasn't had a sizing done for her body in quiet a while and has grown a bit, so were not sure exactly what sizes to look for her. Can you help us with this or will we have to look elsewhere perhaps?"

"Of course, please come this way and I can take the measurements in a few moments." The woman, who Kimi now realized was probably a medusa, due to the facts that her thick strands of hair ended in snakes heads, and that they oved free of each other, said as she gestured to a nearby doorway that led into a large room.

the room appeared to be a changing room ,and was complete with numerous benches of various heights and shapes, as well as numerous rails above their heads that appeared to be connected to curtains that could be drawn, changing the room to any require size. Once inside the medusa showed Kimi where to stand, and showed Mero a place where she could wait nearby, and then said the one thing Kimi had dreaded to hear.

"Alright, I'll need you to take off your dress so that I can take all of your measurements correctly."

"Ah, b-but that's, I mean it's-"

"Ah let me help then, Mero suddenly spoke up as Kimi mumbled uncontrollably. " My friend is still new to being on land, so she's a little shy and doesn't really know the clothing I loaned her that well."

"I understand." The medusa said as she deftly began loosening the cords in the dress's neckline while Mero began untying the lower cheat area, all while Kimi could only look on in embarrassment as the two women began undressing her.

"Um, is this really necessary, I mean, couldn't you just um, take my . . . size, with the clothing on?"

"No, I wouldn't get a correct measurement then." the medusa said with a smile. "You haven't gotten measured often with your modest size have you?

"Ah, no, I mean that is-"

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone. It's nice to see a large size liminal without our usual back problems!" The medusa said as she reached around Kimi's body, causing her breast to press against Kimi's back as the dress became looser and looser until it was deftly pulled straight off of Kimi's body before she even realized it. that alone was embarrassing, but it became even more so when the medusa pulled out a measuring tape and began wrapping it around her breasts at various points, causing her to let out a small squeak. "Ah, I apologize; I should have asked how sensitive you were. I'll be lighter in my touch, again I apologize."

Kimi could only nod and try to hide her face in embarrassment, something that became impossible when the medusa came around her and lowered herself down to her waist and began measuring it.

"Oh, I always manage to forget, Aquatics don't often wear lower undergarments do they." she commented casually, causing Kimi's face to turn as red as a cherry while Mero gave a light laugh.

"No, the kind that serpentine liminals use do not work for us and would float away, so we don't." Mero explained as the medusa finished measuring Kimi's waits, and much to her surprise began measuring her hips and the bases of her pelvic fins.

"um, I thought we were just getting the measurements for my, um, breasts."

"Yes, but aquatic liminal clothing has measurements for their skirts as well so they can fit the best correct?" The medusa asked as she finished and stepped over to a bench and swiped a pad of paper off it and began writing.

"Yes, having all your measurements will make everything easy for when you try things on!" Mero exclaimed in a happy tone, one that caused Kimi to blush even more.

"Wait, try them on? As long as they should fit I shouldn't really need to right? I mean its like-"

"No! You need on try them on otherwise the size could be wrong!" Mero stated as the medusa handed her the slip of paper with a smile.

"There you all, all of her measurements. As she's already undressed would you like some help finding some thing's for her to try on?"

"No, we have a few options with us already." Mero said as she lifted up the pairs of clothing she had grabbed. "We should be fine now, so thank you."

With that the medusa nodded and left the changing room, leaving Mero in her wheelchair with the pile of clothing, and Kimi who stood naked with her hands over where she felt she probably should leave them.

"Okay, let's get these on you and find one or two you like!" Mero exclaimed after a few second of awkward silence.

"Ugh, can't we just, find a few by size and just get them?" Kimi asked in a worried tone as Mero placed the pile on a bench from her lap, and plucked one of the pairs of clothing, a black Bikini with dark purple edging and a matching skirt of roughly half a meter of length, and rolled over to Kimi.

"No, if you do not wear them then you will not know if they fit, and now is a good time to teach you how to wear a skirt properly with your pelvic fins."

"Oh. . .Those things do get in the way of normal skirts."

"Yes, so please put it on and I'll help you." Mero stated as she handed Kimi the skirt first, and kept the top in clear view.

Taking the skirt with a sigh Kimi looked it over, found what side of it was the front as well as found the snaps on its side and began wiggling the end of her tail through it. From being a Lamia she had already figured out the annoying complicated way of putting on a skirt, though its base principal was no different for any other species probably. With some more wiggling of her tail she finally pulled the skirt up to where here pelvic fins were, and because she had to use both hands, she was twisting her body away from Mero as much as she could, though she was not consciously aware of it. "Okay, so do I just close the skirt under the fins then?"

"No," Mero said simply as she rolled over to Kimi, who was awkwardly now trying to hold up the skirt with one hand, while covering her chest with the other. "On the skirt, where there would normally be pockets I'm told, there are two extra straps of cloth over the skirts upper edge." Mero explained as she took the skirt and opened the two straps she mentioned and held them there. "You slip your pelvic fins into these spots, and then close up the skirt. Your pelvic fins will help keep the skirt in place because of this, and it stops them from getting in the skirts way. Give it a try. I'll hold them open for you."

Kimi swallowed hard and looked down to her hips where the skirt and Mero's hands holding the pelvic fin spot open were. It was a strange feeling, and very embarrassing, mostly because of the location, but also because she wasn't wearing anything other than a half on skirt. She hadn't dealt with the pelvic fins in the least since she had turned into an eel. They mostly had just seemed to get in the way of clothing, but she hadn't considered dealing with them at all, and now she had no choice. She tried to move the pelvic fins a bit and found the feeling to be very strange. They were like legs, but not as her legs were still a full length tail. It was like she was trying to move a set of legs that were short and not her own, or that were just tacked on. After a few seconds of experimental twitching Kimi found that she could indeed move them with a surprising range of movement and only slight difficulty, then carefully fed them through the openings that Mero was still patiently holding open for her.

"There now you just snap or zip up the skirt and you're done!" Mero exclaimed with a smile as she rolled back a bit as Kimi did exactly as she said and snapped the skirt shut around her body, quickly bringing an arm up to her chest as she finished.

"So, that's it? Just a skirt but with those two holes for the fins then?" Kimi asked with a sigh.

"Yes it's that simple, does it fit alright? Do you like the length? It isn't too tight around your hips is it?" Mero asked inquisitively as she rolled to the side and was looking over Kimi's skirt with a small gleam in her eyes.

"no it's its fine, I think. the length is fine, and its tight, but not painful, I think." Kimi responded, not entirely sure if she was answering correctly.

"Good that means it fit's fine, and because your pelvic fins will stop it from shifting, we can go ahead and have you try on some tops now!"

"Oh." Kimi said in horror as she looked and noticed that Mero had primarily grabbed what appeared be bikini tops of various sizes, colors and styles.

It was going to be a longer day than Kimi had worried it would be.

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Mrs. Smith sighed as she sat down in the driver seat of her car and sighed. She had completed most of her business for the moment, but still had one last thing to do, make a call. The only problem was that she wasn't sure how the one she needed to call would react to the, unfortunate, information she would be giving her.

Letting out a sigh she flipped out her phone, dialed the number and waited.

Click. "Hello you've reached the LTS research facility japan branch, this is the head of LTS blood research, Ai speaking." Came the phone before it even had a chance to ring, not allowing Mrs. Smith to compose herself as much as she would have liked.

"Hello, Ai, its smith. I'll-"

"Ah Kuroko! How are you! Thanks for sending those blood samples to the lab, they are helping us a lot in our research!" Ai's chipper vice rang over the phone, stopping Mrs. smith from even finishing her introduction.

"You're welcome Ai, but I unfortunately have some bad new related to that."

"You mean that three of the seven samples you sent have turned into the mutant strain?"

". . . . . How did you guess that so perfectly?"

"Because the LTS coding in the blood samples mutated just a few days ago, probably slower than the people they changed, but still. I'm guessing you'll be sending some new blood samples for those two of them then?"

"Yes, I've already sent one, and I'll be sending the other two in . . . . Wait, why are you not wanting all three of them? I can have them all sent in the next two days."

"True, but it's been so long since I was home, so I want to get one of the blood samples myself."

"Ah," Mrs. Smith exclaimed with a slight nod. "Then you realized that-"

"Of course I know my Kimihito caught LTS. You sound like you think I wouldn't recognize my own son's blood. I'd be an insult as a biologist that specialized in blood if I didn't!"

"True, but we both know that's not how you noticed."

"True I suppose."

" . . . .Should I tell Kimihito that you will be coming by at some point then?" Mrs. Smith asked over the phone as she pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil.

"No that's fine. I don't want him to get his hopes up, or attempt to clean the house before I come. Not that it's going to be the same shape anyway."

"Ah, so you know that-"

"Of course I know you've had modifications done to it, I get reports overtime it gets done. I'm willing to guess you handed him quite a few studies from the number of alteration reports, right?"

"A few yes. May I ask when you will be going to see him then?"

"Nope, I don't know actually. Our work is going well, but with the sudden appearance of the mutant strain we've had to work extra. So I don't know when I'll be able to go say hi. I'll call him before I do though."

"Ugh, please call me as well; I'll need to know for some paperwork."

"I don't care about that paperwork; I'll tell you if I remember." Ai's voice said with a snicker as the sound of papers flipping came from the background. "Oh, and don't tell him we talked okay? I don't want him to try to prepare anything until the last minute!"

"Very well. Goodbye Ai, I'll send the other blood samples in the next day or two.

"Okay! talk to you later!"

 **suthors notes:**

 **Ya another chapter up, and yes I', prepping for Kimihito's mother to pop up, because after all, its stated they work away from home (technically overseas), but we've never got anything else about them, so I figured it'd be fun to eventually bring her into it :3**

 **Now onto questions!. The same question has basically been The only one asked, about Mon and weather Kimi would change into some of them. so here's the answer.**

 **Short answer: Yes.**

 **Long answer: Kimi/Kimihito will become a couple of the Mon species as well as some other species not in his house, but some species will not be done because of the biological standpoints of them, Zombie or Jiang-shi being the obvious ones because they are only really pseudo liminal as they were humans who died and came back because of the virus, and I'm not going to kill Kimi because then LTs would not have a body to alter so it' be permanent. So no zombie forms, sorry.**

 **As before thanks for reading, hope you liked the chapter, feel free to ask any questions you might have, and look forward to Kimihito's mother eventually coming.**


	10. CH10 - Awfully Aquatic - fear

Kimi opened her eyes to find the ceiling of Mero's room above her and sighed. the entire day before had been spent shopping, and after what had been a couple literal hours of shopping, it had ended with Kimi having a total of three of the same tops, three differently colored skirts, and a Tunic like pullover top that apparently Eel's normally wore, so she could wear more than just a swim top indoors.

After having bought everything the day before had regressed into Lesson after lesson on how to put on the types of clothing, as well as lessons about what not to do under any circumstance, like using a towel on ones ribs, and gills. It turned out that Mero was a rather, fanatical teacher, willing to go to a substantial length to make user that her student understood what she was saying. This for the most part meant that she kept forcibly taking Kimi's top or skirt off if she found her putting it on awkwardly or in a strange way. And Mero would not take no for an answer, and neither did her tone.

The day before had ended with a rather one sided discussion of where Kimi should sleep. it was less a discussion and more Mero giving a series of reasons why sleeping in her room would be simpler than in Kimi's own, and by the end of it, Kimi simply couldn't say no, though she had insisted that she just sleep on the floor outside the pool. The idea of being constantly underwater was still, very very scary after all.

"Ah, Good morning Beloved!" Mero exclaimed as she silently poked her head out of the water and moved over to the edge of the pol closest to Kimi with a smile on her face.

Kimi turned her head to reply to Mero, and then quickly looked away, regretting that she had even looked in the first place. Mero was wearing nothing, and despite all of her body except her head and shoulders being in the water, Kimi could easily tell what was below the water, and found herself unable to look at her directly as she finally sat up and spoke. "Um, Morning Mero."

"It appears to be a lovely morning. Did you sleep well?" Mero asked as her hips and but floated up to the water's surface a bit, something Kimi notices when she thought to look back or half a moment, then realized it was a bad idea until She heard Mero go back underwater.

"Um, yeah I slept fi- EEHHHHHH!" Kimi suddenly spammed as she tried to get up, only to find her entire tail spiked with a strange feeling, and not quiet pain, but not simple discomfort either. It was like her entire tail was cramping up, had knotted muscles and was being held down by a massive weight all at the same time. It was less than comfortable.

"Oh dear, is your tail seizing up Beloved!?" Mero asked as she reached up and pulled her naked body up onto the ledge of the pool with a worried look on her face.

"Seizing up?"

"Yes, it's what I was worried might happen when you decided to sleep up here and not in the water. Some aquatic liminals experience their muscles seizing up if they can't drift about and stay loose while they sleep. If they sleep on a hard surface their muscles bunch up and get knotted. I've never had it happen to myself, but I'm told it is painful." Mero explained as she fully pulled her naked form up out of the pool and over to Kimi where she began pressing her hands against her tail.

"That's good to know. How do I stop it from hurting?"

"You'll have to just float about under the water for a while to let your tail rest." Mero said simply as she pulled herself away from Kimi and neared the edge of the water, her fully naked form still almost entirely uncovered. Only her lower region was covered by her pelvic fins, much to Kimi's thanks.

"Err, under the water you mean?" Kimi asked a worry tinging her pained voice.

"Yes."

"Um, maybe I'll just lie here for moment then." Kimi said nervously, keeping her gaze at the wall, away from Mero.

"You said the same thing last night when I suggested you sleep In the water with me." Mero commented calmly. "I know you can swim, so is something bothering you beloved?"

" . . . . . I'm, not comfortable with the idea of staying submerged. "Kimi finally admitted. " I'm fine with swimming, and even diving underwater, but the idea of staying under, even if I'm supposed to be able to without diving gear on. It just sounds dangerous.""

"What do you mean? You're an eel right now beloved. Breathing underwater is a simple thing for your body."

"I know that, but I keep worrying In the back of my mind that, what if I can't breathe underwater, or what if I do sleep underwater and then turn back, I'd drown in my sleep!"

"OH, that's true." Mero said with a grin that quickly got bigger and bigger as her tragedy desires began to kick in more and more before she shook her head to dislodge such thoughts for the moment. "If that's the case I can watch over you when you sleep, but you really do need to be in water, otherwise your body may have trouble making mucus."

"What? Trouble making mucus?"

"Yes, if aquatic liminals don't rehydrate their bodies by being in water while they sleep, after a while their bodies can have trouble continuing to produce mucus because their bodies mistakenly believe they don't need it. If that happens it can cause you to become extremely sick and unhealthy. So your muscles seizing is just the tip of what can go wrong."

"Oh. . . .So I have to go underwater one way or the other then?"

"it would be a good idea beloved. unless you want to have even more trouble with everything." Mero stated simply as she threw herself backwards off the floor and into the water, her head peeking up out of it a second later with a welcoming smile.

Kimi looked at Mero's smile and could not help but give in with a sigh. Alright, fine, b-but I'm still not exactly sure about it."

"It's okay; I can walk you through it. So first move your tail into the water to start."

With a shallow nod Kimi slowly turned around, paying as little attention as possible to the water around Mero where she could clearly see the outline of her body beneath the waves, and slowly moved her tail into the water. as soon as her tail slipped halfway into the water she felt the pain in it slowly begin to disappear, and once she was sitting at the edge with almost all of it in the water all of the pain was gone. The water itself did not feel cold or warm, like it was simply there and kept at whatever temperature it decided to be at.

"Okay, now just drop yourself into the water alright?"

Kimi nodded as she propped her arms up and dropped herself into the water how she normally would at any pool. of course normal pools had a shallow end, and the human body is naturally buoyant, an eels body however, because of the mucus absorbing the water, was not, so instead of dropping in and partially floating up back to the surface, Kimi found that her body dropped into the water and stayed there until she moved her hands to pull herself back up to the surface where she gasped out of her mouth." okay, that was weird!"

"Only because you're trying to breathe through your mouth still. breath through your gills and you'll find it easier to stay underwater. Shall we?" Mero asked as she floated at the surface of the water, the top of her breasts clearly visible, and the rest just as visible below the surface.

"Um, before that um, could you put something on?"

"Hmm?" Mero said with a tilt of her head before she glanced down and then covered her chest calmly with s minor blush. "Ah my apologies, I sleep without clothing on or it'd catch on things when I drift, I'm sorry."

"Just um, put something on please."

"I will, but come one down with me okay? We need to get water passing your gills anyway so I can show you around the pool!"

"What?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ugh, this sucks!" Miia exclaimed as she sat on the floor of the living room, looking extremely upset about something.

"What exactly is wrong Miia?" Centorea asked with an exasperated sigh.

" Darling is wrong! She's been in Mero's room all day long and it's so unfair!" Miia growled, gritting her teeth together unconsciously.

"She's with Mero because she's aquatic at the moment Miia, Mero's room is the only place with a deep pool as well, so it's only natural that she would be with her at the moment." Rachnera stated in her usual tone.

"But she's spending all of her time with that Tragedy freak!" Miia shrieked in annoyance.

"Yeah Boss is stuck in the water!" Papi added, though without any annoyance in her voice. It was merely a statement of fact.

"That's hardly something to be annoyed about Miia," Centorea stated.

"Perhaps not, but I can understand the feeling. Honey is supposed to be our homestay, yet because of the situation he is not able to be around all of us, and it does complicate the household workings." Rachnera said as the doorbell rang and Lala appeared passing the doorway to the living room, evidently heading to the door.

"While I agree with the problems it does pose to us as Homestay's, the problems that our master is dealing with due to LTS are far worse and we need to continue doing our best, without acting on our jealous feelings." Centorea stoically stated, making it sound slightly more like an order than a statement of opinion.

Papi appeared to open her mouth to add in her thoughts, but stopped when she looked and found Lala walk into the room, looking like she had seen a ghost, which was a strange and seemingly impossible concept consider lala's own stature.

Stepping to the side of the doorway Lala appeared to be pressing against the wall, as if she was intent on merging with it, just as Mrs. Smith walked around the corner and under the doorway into the living room. "Hey, is Darling about?" Mrs. Smith asked with a smile that somehow seemed too casual, like she was preparing something to drop on him/her.

"Honey is with Mero in her room, and has been for most of the day. Teaching her to swim and breathe correctly and such I believe." Rachnera answered swiftly, locking herb gaze on Mrs. Smith, looking for anything that would betray her reasons for coming.

"I see. Could someone get them please?" Mrs. Smith asked as she walked into the living room and planted herself in a chair, crossing her legs as she leaned back and let out a long and heavy sigh, one that made her sound exhausted.

Taking that chance Lala Slipped out of the room without a word, though everyone noticed, and nearly ten minutes later she returned with Mero and Kimi right behind her, Mero in her usual clothing, and Kimi wearing the sleevless tunic like top she and Mero had gotten her the day before.

"Hmm, so you did turn from a Lamia to an eel then." Mrs. Smith stated simply as she saw Kimi and nodded to herself, not even sitting back up in the chair.

Kimi simply nodded and looked to Mero. " It's been a little more difficult with the differences in, breathing, but Mero's been a big help, and Miia's help when I was a Lamia has helped a lot as well."

"Yes I figured it might be a little hard in that respect. . . . How comfortable with being underwater are you though?"

The question seemed to catch Kimi off guard for a moment, and did so to everyone else as she answered it. "Um, I wasn't too good with the idea, but Mero was helping for most of the day, so I think I'm, okay with it, why?"

"Because, I had been meaning to bring something up in the past few weeks, but work kept getting in the way," Mrs. Smith began as she glanced around at everyone in the room. "Besides Lala who arrived later, would I be correct in guessing that none o you have been keeping in shape after you went to sports club kobold?"

"Almost everyone in the room seemed to shrink their heads down slightly, though Rachnera only smiled. " I'm in fine shape, so I'm not worried!"

"You should be with how lazy you are." Miia deadpanned as Mrs. Smith continued.

"That is about what I expected.. . . Polt has recently completed a number of modifications onto Sports club kobold, as well as adding a special and very personal weight watching program. it's also nearing the time to get your physicals done again, so almost all of you will be heading to the gym tomorrow with myself and Manako." Mrs. Smith explained, causing Miia and Cerea to groan in annoyance.

"Wait, almost everyone? So I'm not included then yes?" Rachnera asked with a smile of superiority. A smile that was quickly smashed to pieces when Mrs. smith answered her.

"No, Mero and Darling won't be going actually, which brings me to the next thing I have to ask." Mrs. Smith said as she turned her gaze to Mero and Kimi and pulled out a single piece of paper, sliding it across the table. "The managers at the aquarium have put in a proposal to us and the mermaid kingdoms, asking for mermaids to work with them, but they don't know how good of an idea it would be unless they could test how hard it would be for mermaids to be in the aquarium working for a day and take training. As you already helped them once before Mero, they are actually requesting you again, to test a few theories."

"Oh my! they want me to work at the aquarium?" Mero asked in surprise.

"No, for now they just want to do a trial run as the end of summer is nearing. If the trial run is successful though, it would open up permanent positions for aquatic liminal species in aquariums across the country, both for shows, information, tours and training in the future months. The idea had been passed by all the major Aquatic liminal leaders, and has been approved, it just needs to be tested. Would you be willing to?"

"I'd love to, but, how would that work with Beloved being an Eel and you bringing everyone to Sports club kobold?"

"actually I was thinking about that, and I think I have a solution. With some alerting and the right paperwork it could work fine so, why don't you and Darling go to the aquarium for the day tomorrow?"

 **Authors note:**

 **To answer a question asked by linkthetoaoftime- LTS will become public knowledge if they cannot contain and find a cure for it pretty dam fast.**


	11. CH11 - Awfully Aquatic - Aquarium action

"I – I'm thinking I'm having second thoughts about this." Kimi muttered as she moved down the sidewalk beside Mero ho was being pushed by Doppel.

"What do you mean?" Mero asked as she turned her head to Kimi, who seemed to be shifting about in her clothing, still not fully used to it.

"I mean the aquarium. From what Mrs. Smith said, we'd both be helping test something, so that would mean, un being underwater."

"You seemed fine yesterday after a while."

"Yeah but I'm not really, sure of it still. it's still kind of scary, and I'm also worried about what Mrs. smith said, about the aquarium speaking with the mermaids about this."

"What about it?" Doppel asked with a smirk, finally breaking her silence that she had been exhibiting since leaving the house. Mrs. Smith sent her with them as an agent from the government, and with her there no police or anyone else would be able to argue their presence. At least in theory.

"Well, Mero makes sense because she's royalty, buy I'm not really an actual liminal, so wouldn't my presence complicate things?"

"Not really beloved." Mero said with a smile, "We can just explain that you are my retainer and no one will question it."

"Yeah, smith said that'd be the best way to do this probably." Doppel added with a shrug, showing how little she cared about the details.

"Will that really work though?" Kimi asked as they turned around a street corner and could see the aquarium in the distance.

" It will as long as you stay by me, humans don't know how mermaid culture works for the most part, so no one should find anything wrong with it." Mero stated as she looked to the aquarium and smiled. "I wonder if we'll get to swim with the dolphins again."

w-with dolphins?" Kimi muttered as she anxiously sunk her head down a bit. staying underwater with Mero the day before was hard and sleeping in the water had been more than nerve wracking to the point she barely got any sleep, but being in the water with other creatures, Kimi could feel hr body suddenly turn cold at the idea.

"Oh, they got a welcoming part for you." Doppel suddenly said, pulling Kimi out of her internal worries, and causing her to look up. Just as Doppel had said, there were two lines of Aquarium staff standing on either side of an outstretched red carpet that led to the doors of the aquarium, with many aquarium goers looking on in interest. It was the exact same as when Kimi came with Miia and Mero, only this time, she wasn't human, and they were here for something beyond just looking around.

"It is quiet nice isn't it, welcoming us like this just for impel test." Mero commented s they came onto the carpet and down it between the lines of employee's.

As they reached the end of the carpet there were three people standing in front of the doors. One man wore a uniform that held a baton on its belt, while another was older and was wearing a light blue suit. Between them stood a young woman, who appeared to be wearing a full body scuba diving suit, along with a belt of waterproof pouches. "Thank you for coming Miss Lorelei, I am glad we can do this test for everyone." The man on the suit declared she stepped forward and bowed to Mero. "I am the Manager of this aquarium, and again I thank you for accepting our request."

"It is no problem," Mero exclaimed with a clap of her hands. "I'm glad we are able to help everyone with this."

"And we thank you for it," The manager said as the man with the baton stepped up. "This is my security officer, and I assume you are the MON operative yes?" He asked as he turned his gaze to Doppel.

"Yes, I've got the documents we'll be discussing with me." Doppel replied with a casual shrug.

"You aren't coming with us?" Kimi asked as she looked to Doppel as she walked up to the manager and security officer.

"No, I have business with the manager; you two have fun for the day!" Doppel exclaimed as she walked off with the security officer.

"For now I have business to deal with alongside your MON operative, I shall leave you with out head trainer here. Her name is Ami, and I hope you'll find her abilities to be as great as I hope you will. Is that alright?"

"Of course, I understand." Mero exclaimed as the manager nodded and walked away with Doppel, leaving only the Trainer Ami nearby who was smiling brightly.

"Sorry about that, the managers got a lot to do, and some of the paperwork was found to be sort of missing this morning, so he needs to take care of it." Ami said with a smile. "He wouldn't be much help for the trials anyway though. Again, thank you for accepting our request."

"It's no problem miss Ami, we are happy to help." Mero said with a smile and a slight glance to kimi, which caught Ami's notice.

"Again I must thank you, though, might I ask though who the . . . . . Eel? With you is?" Ami asked unsure if she got her species right.

"This is Kimi, my Retainer, if it's alright, she'll be joining me today."

"Oh I see no problem with it; it'll give us a possibility to do more trials if that's alright."

"Oh course, shall we then? I am eager to see what we'll be doing." Mero said with a smile as Ami stepped up behind her and took control of her wheelchair, trying to show a smile, though having difficulty doing so.

"Of course, lets head inside." Ami said as she made a hand signal above her head, signaling all of the gathered employees to leave and head back to their own duties as she led Mero and Kimi into the aquariums entry way.

The inside of the aquarium was the same as it had been before. The main entry way was spacious and had images of fish painted on the wall, and just inside was a massive room with dozens of individual Tanks holding specific kinds of fish. Each tank had boards by them describing the fish and their habits, but as Kimi glanced around something caught her eye. On a wall there was an aquarium employee standing beside a board with dozens of kids and their parents sitting on an array of chairs before her. It looked like she was giving a live discussion on something but she couldn't hear what it was about. All of the onlookers to it seemed very interested in it though.

"Is something wrong?" Amis suddenly asked as he stopped just ahead of Mero and Kimi.

"Oh no, I just noticed the group over there." Kimi replied, causing Ami to smile.

"Ah, she's doing an orientation on how the ocean effects the land, it's a group orientation, and participation is asked for it, so the kids enjoy it." Ami explained as she led Mero and Kimi down a side hallway and into a doorway labelled employees only. Inside they found a large indoor pool that looked incredibly deep, and appeared too connected to an adjoining pool by an underwater gate. "this is the training pool we use for dolphin shows, I thought it'd be a good place to begin talking about what exactly were planning for aquatic liminal In the future, is that alright?"

"Of course, but I must ask, Will we be using that pool perhaps?" Mero asked with a gleam in her eyes, While Kimi looked a little less hopeful about it.

"Yes, and you may get in if you'd like while we speak, but I'd like to request you change before you do."

"oh, we have out swimsuits under our clothing so-"

"I apologize but unless what you are wearing underneath is a full body suit, I will have to insist. the time you helped us before and swam with the dolphins, it was a great success, but a part of your top came loose during it and we received a few sparse complaints from some people, so we'd like to limit that. I'm sorry."

"Oh my, I didn't realize, it's no problem. We can change immediately!" Mero exclaimed as she began manually rolling her wheelchair toward a nearby very well labeled changing room, but stopped at the door and looked back, " Kimi, let's get changed alright?"

"Crap, I knew I'd get pulled into this. At least one of those full body suits that Mero and Miia used at sports centre kobold won't be so embarrassing to wear compared to other kinds." Kimi muttered to herself quietly as she followed Mero into the changing room with her had hung low.

a few moments later the two of them came out of the change room, each wearing a black and light blue swimsuit that covered their entire torso's and a significant portion of their upper tails. unlike the kind that Mero had worn once before, this kind was a little longer and went lower, meaning her pelvic fins were through some small holes and would stop the suit from slipping off like it had done once before. Kimi, while wearing the suit flawlessly, looked far from pleased by the situation, having realized that while a one piece suit covered more skin, it caused the bodies shape to become more visible and noticed. It was something she was hardly prepared for, and the embarrassment and nervousness was clear on her face.

"Are you alright miss?" Ami asked as she noticed Kimi's expression once the two of them stopped before her at the side of the massive pool.

"Ah, um well-"

"Kimi is slightly nervous when people see her body, but I'm sure she will be fine one we get into the water." Mero interrupted Kimi with a smile, answering Ami in such a way that Kimi truly had no escape.

"I see, then you can both get into the water and we can begin!" Ami said causing Mero to nearly throw herself off her wheel chair into the water. In comparison, Kimi's carful entry into the pool looked slow and calm, and was anything but. The pool was massive compared to Mero's at the house, And While Mero and Ami spoke and talked about different ideas and did minor tests with them, Kimi found she was for the most part not needed. Her knowledge of what they were talking about was extremely lacking after all, and it gave her a chance to just swim around the pool, trying to calm herself down.

It was easier than she thought it would be. the pool was larger than Mero's and because of that she didn't feel confined when in it due to the length of her body, and the temperature was a little cooler, making it significantly more calming as Kimi slowly swam around. She still was leery of being underwater, but she had the basics of it, and was able to without panicking. Feeling her breathing through her gills instead of her mouth or nose was still an insanely strange feeling however, and she didn't think she'd ever get used to it.

Occasionally Ami joined them In the pool and would swim round with Mero, the two of them seeming to have a great time, but each time it was only for a bit, and Ami came back to the water's edge where they would continue speaking. After this happened almost a dozen times though, Mero plunged under the water and called over to Kimi. "Ami wants to talk to both of us, can you come up?" Mero asked, her voice warbling and echoing in the watwr as Kimi found it did naturally when underwater. it was extremely strange that Aquatic Liminals could speak under water, but Kimi found it more strange that their voices sounded so different, almost like echoes that changed their tunes almost constantly, and no matter how far away she seemed to be, her ability to hear Mero's voice didn't dwindle unless she was completely out of Mero's voice range, and when that happened she didn't hear a thing.

Moving up toward the surface Kimi broke it without a single splash and moved over to the edge of the pool. She didn't realize it but Ami was impressed by how quietly an eel could enter and exit the water, though was more impressed at how gracefully she moved through it. "Yes?" Kimi asked, sounding a little more chipper after having some time to just calm down In the water. Even if she still found it nerve-wracking, it was strangely calming.

"We think we've understood most of what we'll need to for now, so Ami was wondering if we wanted to swim in the next pool." Mero said, allowing Ami to add to the explanation.

"It's connected to the underwater viewing area that allows our customers to see dolphins and other mammals swim about, I was wondering if the two of you would like to join in there for a bit. It's a bigger pool, and I'm sure the customers would enjoy seeing dolphins and mermaids together."

"Ah, that's . . .what do you think?" Kimi asked Mero who smiled.

"I think it's a great idea! And don't worry; I'm sure everyone will be respectful."

"I- okay I guess." Kimi replied somehow knowing that arguing would be pointless at this point, as Mero appeared to be looking forward to it greatly.

Zoning out partially Kimi followed Mero down under the surface and over to a wall of the pool where it opened up into the other pool, and as she followed Mero in, realized that the water felt, different. This pool was more natural, with water pant of various kinds lining the bottom of the pool, giving the water a different smell and taste. And as soon as Kimi realized this she was almost sidelined by a dolphin speeding by with a squeaky chuckle, different than dolphins sounded normally to people.

"Ah, this will be fun!" Mero exclaimed as she moved up beside Kimi with a smile as some sort of announcement played outside the pool, probably informing the onlookers of their entry into the pool. "Dolphins are playful, and if you just swim about they will be likely to follow you around. Just be careful your swimsuit stays in place, otherwise they might get a bit rape-y."

Kimi looked at Mero dumbfounded as she swam off into the pool, quickly being followed by a pair of dolphins. "Why-what I you mean by rape-y? Mero!" Kimi exclaimed as she swam forward trying to get some answers. As she neared Mero however, another pair of dolphins dashed between them and began Circling Kimi playfully, occasionally passing by the tip of her tail and smacking it with the tips of their own.

"So you want to play it that way then huh?" Kimi Muttered as she was overcome by a sudden feeling of being challenged. For a second she acted bored, and then as soon as the dolphins seemed confused, bolted down toward the bottom of the tank, the dolphin's quickly following after her. the dolphins were fast, but because of the difference in build between a n eel and a dolphin, and the length of their tails, Kimi found the Dolphins were having trouble keeping up with her, but were giving it their best. then she realized that she was both going faster than she ever had before, and that she had passed out of the plants and was traveling right across a large glass window.

Outside the window were dozen of children and their parents as well as some older people as well. What caught Kimi's attention though, was every onlooker's expression. When she was a Lamia, most people had glanced at her with a mix of fear and worry, but as an eel, every person was looking at her with looks of amazement and happiness. It was like the idea of people having negative views of aquatic Liminals was impossible, and it felt extremely odd to have so many people watching her with looks of amazement.

The free swimming with the dolphins Laster for almost an hour, and by the time it ended, both Kimi and Mero were extremely tired, and the aquarium was nearing its closing time. Once they changed and were picked up by Doppel, the three of them left the aquarium in high spirits and even Doppel seemed pleased with herself.

"You look happy; I thought you'd be annoyed from the paperwork you had to do." Mero commented with a smile to Doppel.

"Yeah, it was mostly that, but I got to have some fun as well, so it's not that bad." Doppel said with a snicker, causing Mero to shiver slightly, and not immediately notice Kimi's slowing pace until her own wheelchair stopped being pushed.

"Hmm? kimi is something wrong?" Mero asked as she turned in her chair, just in time to watch Kimi collapse onto the sidewalk. "Ah Beloved!"

"Oh my, let's see." Doppel said casually as she walked over and lifted Kimi's head, looking at her unconscious face before placing a hand on her forehead. "She's pretty warm, and her forehead is dry. Is that normal?"

"No it isn't." Mero said as she grabbed Kimi's tunic and lifted it up, losing her breath at what she saw.

"What is it?"

"It, it's her Gills. They're gone!"


	12. CH12 - Regular panic

Kimihito opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. it was a strange thing though, because the last thing he remembered was walking back from the aquarium with Mero and Doppel, as an eel. Mero had convinced him to sleep in her room to not injure himself while an eel, so why was he in his own room?

Sitting up to look around Kimihito happened to glance down and felt is pulse rise alongside a feeling of happiness. His chest was flat. More than that, it was shaped like a man's, not a woman's. Kicking off his covers he found his legs, arms, and the entirety of his body the wat it should be, as a man's. there was a skirt around his waist, and the tunic he was wearing as an eel on his body, but they were simple enough to toss off and to a corner of his room while he quickly and happily grabbed his own clothing out of the drawers a and threw them on.

Once he had thrown some pants and a shirt on he realized he was hyperventilating from happiness, and sat down on his bed, carefully controlling his breathing to bring his body back under control. As his breathing slowly returned to normal Kimihito glanced over to the clock on his windowsill, and found that it was still early in the morning, so early that no one else except for Cerea was likely to be awake, and she was likely to be out running.

Now calmed down Kimihito quietly walked out of his room and quickly hit the bathroom to was his face before he quietly, but speedily, dashed down to the kitchen. Since he had become a Lamia, his sense of taste had suffered, and as an Eel he had been unable to easily hold any kind of kitchen tool or pot, meaning he hadn't cooked and tasted anything he had made in a while, and it was a simple thing he gravely wanted at the moment.

passing the living room Kimihito found it happily empty, meaning that everyone was sleeping in their own rooms despite the fact that he had fallen unconscious, he'd have to thank Mero and Doppel for bringing him back, if they had.

The kitchen was as clean as it normally was, having been kept in shape by Cerea and Rachnee who had been doing the majority of the cooking in his, inability to. Pulling out a large griddle Kimihito dropped it onto the stovetop and began pulling out ingredients. Flour, sugar, baking soda, Salt, milk, Chocolate chips, and finally a small amount of apple juice and a banana; It felt like ages since Kimihito had made pancake, but as he began mixing everything together he found he was not forgetting anything, and as he finished mixing the batter and was slicing the banana, he heard noise at the doorway, and found the first person to wake up yawning lazily as she walked in.

"Morning Rachnee!" Kimihito greeted with a smile as he finished slicing the banana and then diced it for good measure. He didn't like large banana pieces in his pancakes after all.

Rachnee looked up upon hearing his voice and then smiled at Kimihito as she walked around the table, "Oh your back to yourself, that's a relief, and how do you feel honey?"

"Really good, it's great being back to me. Though it was very enlightening, it's still best to be myself."

"I think everyone will agree with that statement, me included." Rachnee said with a devious smile. "Though if you became an Arachne, I might not be able to hold myself back."

"Pardon, I didn't catch that last part, sorry."

"Ah, it's nothing." Rachnee said with a softer smile as she turned her gaze away for a moment to hide the minor embarrassment at saying something she should have kept secret. She was just happy he, or anyone else, hadn't heard her. "What are you making?" Rachnee asked a few seconds later, deciding that steering the conversation a different direction would be best.

"Pancakes," Kimihito said simply as he mixed the banana into the mix and then reached for the chocolate ships, stopping just before his hand reached them and pulling it back. He had forgotten for a moment what they could possibly do to Rachnee, so it would be better not to risk it. "The first batch will be ready in a few minutes."

" Really, it looks like there's enough for everyone already" Cerea stated as she walked into the kitchen with a towel around her neck, sitting atop the sports top she was wearing very well. "It is good to see you back to normal master."

"Thanks, it feels good to be Back to normal to. How was your run?"

"it was good, the morning is actually surprisingly cool today, so it was refreshing." Cerea answer as she came around the table near Rachnee and shook her head a bit, causing her hair to bounce around, along with other things as well.

" Master!" Suddenly came Suu's squeaky voice as she slid into the kitchen, nearly wrapping herself around Kimihito's legs as she tripped up slightly on the kitchens traction mat. " Masters back to normal!"

"yep, morning Suu. . . . .um, I know your happy, but could you let go Suu, I don't want to spill pancake batter onto. . . . Into you." Kimihito said when he realized he couldn't move close enough to the griddle without stretching, which would have been dangerous.

" Okaaaay!" Suu exclaimed as she detached herself from Kimihito's legs and slid over to a corner of the room where she sank down into a light blue block, her eyes barely noticeable, but definitely there as the moved all over her mas to look around as Kimihito began pouring the pancake mix out and cooking them.

The sound of the griddle gave way to the smell of fresh pancakes, and within a few minutes everyone that had gathered so far, including Kimihito, had a plate of pancakes that were being quickly eater, or dissolved in Suu's case.

By the time they had finished the first batch of pancakes, Papi, Miia and Mero popped into the kitchen and all nearly assaulted Kimihito. Papi and Miia were screaming that they were happy he was back to normal, while Mero's reaction was similar but a bit dumbed down. With another batch of pancakes made and put out, along with a batch of seconds, everyone was happily eating when Mero spoke up. "Beloved, I have a question if you don't mind."

"Sure, what is it?" Kimihito asked with a smile as he cut a chunk off his pancake and tossed it into his mouth, the butter on top of it having barely had a chance to start melting.

" Did you find being a Lamia and Eel interesting?"

"That, is basically what it was." Kimihito deadpanned carefully so that his reply would not be insulting in any way. it had truthfully been interesting, but it had also made things extremely difficult for him.

"I see, did you prefer one over the other?" Mero asked, and at this Miia seemed to almost choke and stare at Kimihito with a look of hopefulness.

"that . . . . . both of them were interesting and a challenge, but they did give me some insight into what you and Miia have to go through, but I wouldn't say one was any better than the other." Kimihito answered after a few seconds of thought.

"I see, thank you," Mero said carefully as she ate, while Miia mumbled to herself about something that Kimihito couldn't quiet hear.

Ring Ring Ring.

"I got it!" Papi exclaimed as the phone rang out in the hall, causing Kimihito to drop his fork and call out to Papi,

"No that's okay Papi; I Haven't had a chance to recently. So I'll get it, you just finish your pancakes okay?" Kimihito said as he began walking out of the kitchen.

"But the fork is hard!" Papi complained as Kimihito left the kitchen, hearing Mero say something about helping Papi.

Down the hall the phone was still ringing constantly, and strangely enough, standing bside the phone was Lala, who upon seeing Kimihito spoke up." Ye return to the origin of your soul, but be warned, death is waiting across the line."

"Um, okay." Kimihito said as he looked to the phone and picked it up while Lala walked silently away into the living room. "Kurusu residence, Kimihito speaking."

" Kimihito! Hiya, How are you! "Came a loud, chipper voice that would put anyone else to shame in how much energy it seemed to hold in it. The voice caused Kimihito however, to suddenly become cold at the ramifications of it.

"Uh, Hi mom, how are you?"

"oh I'm fine I guess, work has been so hectic recently I haven't even been able to call your father, but he sent me a text saying he was fine yesterday, so that's all good for now. But enough about me, how are you doing!"

"I'm doing-"

"Are you eating alright? You're not skipping out on the housework or your own exercise right?"

"No I'm staying in fine shape." Kimihito said, suddenly recalling all the slightly painful experiences and how badly he needed to get into even better shape than he already was. "And I'm eating fine, you know how I cook."

"I know but I have to check! Just because you can cook doesn't mean you will, or that you're stocking the fridge well enough!"

"Well I am so you don't have to worry mom."

"Hito! I'm your mother, it's my job to worry about you, even if you are old enough to be on your own!"

"Well I'm fine mom," Kimihito said, ignoring the shortening of his name that his mother seemed to like to call him on occasion. She always started conversations and meeting with his full name though, so it always confused him, not that he wasn't used to it."

"Well that's good, but I still want to see for myself. I've gotten a few days off work, so I'm heading home now actually, my plane should land in about an hour so I can see you before lunch even!"

Kimihito had been slightly worried when it was his mother on the other end of the phone, but that feeling had dwindled as he had spoken to her. That feeling came back in full force however at her latest words. He had never told his mom about the exchange program, not that he had been forced into it, or the fact he now had seven exchanges in the house. He hadn't told her about the alterations done to her house either, so just how would she react? "Uh no, um that's a bad idea." Kimihito blurted out on a panic.

"Hmm, why is that Hito, is something wrong? Or are you hiding something?"

"No it's just that, um . . . . Bugs."

"Bugs?"

" Yes, there been a lot of them this summer, and a lot have gotten into the house, so it's being fumigated to deal with them, the entire street is, and our house is being done in an hour! I was just about to head out shopping actually because of it." Kimihito lied, wanting to kick himself for how stupid he must sound.

"Oh, that's unfortunate." Kimihito's mother said as the line was silent for am moment before she spoke up again. "Why don't we meet up somewhere then and talk, it's been so long since I've seen you I'm not about to take no for an answer you know!"

"of course, I mean, yeah, I'd like that. How about we meet at that Café you like?" Kimihito asked hopefully, knowing that the Café in question was about half an hour away, so far enough from the house.

"Oh that sounds great! Do you know if they still make that Blood orange smoothie I like?"

"Uhm, I'm not sure." Kimihito replied knowing that it was still in the menu from when he and Miia went there when he was a Lamia. Hopefully the hope of getting would make his mother go there definitely.

"Then let's meet there! If they have those smoothies I want one! Let's say we'll meet at, does ten thirty sound good to you?"

"Yes that's fine." Kimihito replied, far quicker than he initially intended to.

"Okay I'll see you soon then!" Kimihito's mother said just as the line clicked closed.

For a few second Kimihito was completely still and he didn't notice everyone poking their heads out of the kitchen and down to him.

"Darling is something wrong? who's on the phone?" Miia asked as she and everyone else came out of the kitchen and toward him.

The phone dropped out of Kimihito's hand as he turned and instantly went over to the door, quickly throwing his shoes on and tying them as fast as he could. "Ah, what's going on master is something wrong?" Cerea asked, as she moved over to and placed the phone back on the receiver.

"No, nothing is wrong!" Kimihito exclaimed as he suddenly dashed up the stairs to his room and came down with his wallet in his pocket. "I have something to do, so I'll be back in a bit." Kimihito said as he threw open the door, then stopped and grabbed both of the outing permits and stuffed them into his pocket. "Don't go outside until I get back okay, I'll be back"

And with that he was gone, leaving everyone standing in the hall dumbfounded and confused.

"Master is acting strange!" Papi said suddenly, getting a smile from Rachnee.

"That is an understatement. It is clear Honey is trying to hide something from us." Rachnee explained with grin.

"Yes, but what could master be so worried about that he seemed so panicked?" Cerea wondered aloud.

"Perhaps, Beloved has a human girlfriend he's been hiding?" Mero suggested, her tragedy gears going into overdrive at the idea.

" What! impossible he couldn't that that, that's impossible!" Miia stuttered in a panic, causing Rachnee to snicker quietly to herself.

"But what is he hiding then? Suu pipe up, causing Rachnee's grin to turn devious.

"Why don't we follow him and find out?"

 **Authors note: I'm surprised I got this chapter done so fast, but it did take me a while, and I do have incentive. monster hunter generations comes out on Friday, so I doubt I'll touch any writing for at least a week straight once it comes out. Got to get as much writing as possible done before then.**

 **Oh yeah, and Kimihito's mother pops up mwuahhaahha, h how I will enjoy the upcoming chapters and the insanity they shall bring. Look forward to it, and I hope everyone's liking the story so far!**


	13. CH13 - Regular Panic - Mother

Kimihito Kurusu sat at the café at a table on it's patio so he'd be easy to spot, and so he could see his mother. The morning was slightly cool, but not uncomfortably so, and as soon as the sun got higher in the sky it would become increasingly warm, so Kimihito hadn't grabbed a jacket. In hind sight he probably should have, but he had been so panicked that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. All he knew was that he had to keep his mother away from the house. she was normally really lax and energetic about things, but the house had some substantial alterations done to it, and he wasn't sure how his mother would react to having seven all female exchange students in the house, or that Mrs. smith was wanting him to date/marry one of them.

As if on que Kimihito noticed his mother walking down the opposite street and waved over, catching her attention and causing her to run across the cross walk and up onto the café's patio. Ai Kurusu, Kimihito's mother, was almost the exact same height as him and thinly built all across her body. her black hair was down to her shoulders and well kept, and she was wearing a knee length black skirt and a simple grey tank top with a simle black leather vest over it that almost hid her small breasts from sight. Her bright red eyes were covered by a pair of simple sunglasses, and she had a simple wide brimmed black hat on her head. She wasn't carrying anything, but as she came into the patio Kimihito could see that her vests pockets were heavy, meaning she probably had her wallet and other things in it like she usually did.

Not even giving Kimihito a chance to stand up, Ai nearly lunged across the patio and hugged him in his chair with a gigantic smile. "Oh it's been so long since I've seen you Kimihito!" Ai exclaimed energetically as she hugged and squeezed him.

As he was squeezed it suddenly dawned on Kimihito that the reason he had gotten used to everyone strength at the house was probably due to his mother, because she was almost choking him with her hug, despite the fact that he knew she was holding back. "Um, mom, choking, can't breathe."

"Hmm? Ah oh I'm Sorry Hito!" Ai exclaimed as she let go and shook her head before sitting down across from him. "You know how I am, but sorry about that. I can't control my own strength sometimes."

"It felt like you were controlling it quite well though." Kimihito commented as he rubbed his neck, ignoring his mother's nickname for him, as he was far more than just used to her calling him it.

"Really? I didn't think I was, you have been getting stronger, I'm so proud! And I'm really happy to see you doing so well, you don't look sickly or anything!"

"I told you I was fine mom."

"Yes but a mother has to worry otherwise she's not meant to be a mother!" Ai exclaimed as she grabbed a menu off the table and looked it over. "Have you ordered anything Yet?"

"No not yet, I was waiting for you to arrive."

"Oh how sweet of you. Ah, yes they still make the blood orange smoothies!" Ai exclaimed as she looked at the menu.

"You like those huh."

"Of course I do, your father introduced me to them on our second date!" Ai exclaimed as she passed Kimihito the menu which he looked over.

"I see. How is dad, do you know?"

"I haven't spoken to him, but he texted me saying he's doing fine yesterday, and he sent me another today saying he was going to be stuck in Harpy lands for a while. He has so much trouble being a diplomat sometimes, but you know how your father is, always wants to help everyone for the greater good!"

"Yeah I guess so." Kimihito nodded s a Server came by with a smile.

"What can I get you guys?"

"I'll have a strawberry smoothie please." Kimihito replied as he passed the server the menu and then looked to his mother.

"And I'll have a house style Blood orange smoothie thank you." Ai said with a big smile, saying just how much she was looking forward to it.

"Um, house style?" the server asked in confusion.

"Ah you must be new yeah? Just say that to your cook and he'll know, I'm sure of it!" Ai exclaimed with a smile that caused the server to blush and run off with their order.

"You like doing that." Kimihito deadpanned with a sigh, causing Ai to giggle to herself.

"Maybe, or maybe she's just self-conscious. . . .So Hito, have you gotten a girlfriend yet?"

"Err, not exactly." Kimihito said as he glanced away from his mother's inquisitive gaze.

"Oh that means you have someone your after then right? Is she cute? Human? Liminal?"

"Mom, please don't."

"Oh come on, I want to know, what's wrong with that?"

"It's just . . . . . . . . . Why didn't you tell me?" Kimihito asked as he taped his own lips with a finger, changing the subject to one that had been bugging him for literally years on end.

Ai looked at Kimihito for a moment before her expression became almost sad. "Ah, so you know. I should have known you would but. . . .when did you find out?"

"Back in early high school technically." Kimihito replied honestly.

"Ah, so I'm guessing the interspecies act kind of confirmed it for you back then." Ai said getting a nod from Kimihito. "Well that was pretty bad timing on my part. But um, you don't, um. . . . "

"You're my mom, nothing else." Kimihito said with a smile. "I just want to know why you hid it from me for so long."

As Ai opened her mouth to speak the server came by and placed both smoothies on the table, one bright pink, and the other a deep red in color. "Thank you!" Ai said as the server ran off and she took a sip of her smoothie. "Mmm, just as good as always. As to why I didn't tell you earlier, well just think of how things would have been if I had told you when you were younger?"

Kimihito thought to himself for a moment and shivered. "I guess I can understand that."

"Good." Ai said as she drank more of her smoothie and smiled the entire time. "and since we're on the topic, why haven't you told me what's actually going on at the house?"

"What?"

"Please Hito, you know I'm not dumb, and fumigation is not something done to an entire street. Besides, I already know the house has been remolded for Exchange students." Ai said with a smile as she continued to drink.

". . . How?"

" I was sent notices of completed work whenever an alteration was done to the house, and Kuroko had eluded to me that she had sent more than just one or two exchange students to our house, though the number of alterations alone said as much as well."

Kimihito looked at his mother's smiling face for a moment and sighed. He always did have trouble hiding anything from his mother so he really shouldn't be surprised by this, or the fact that she'd get messaged about the alterations to the house when it was owned under her name. "Yeah, we've got handful of exchange students staying at the house."

"I see. Would they perhaps include a Lamia, Mermaid, harpy and Centaur perhaps?"

"What? How did you?"

"Because, don't look now, but there are four of those attempting to hide behind the edge of the café and are clearly watching us." Ai said with a gleeful snicker.

"Red haired Lamia?"

"Yep."

"Ugh, I took the permits with me so they wouldn't chase after me, but it hasn't stopped them before," Kimihito commented with a sigh as he took a drink of his smoothie.

"Ha, it sounds like a lot has happened while I've been away. you'll have to tell me about it sometime."

"Not now?"

"No I've got a better idea." Ai said with a smile that caused Kimihito to worry. "Since your friends don't seem to realize we know they're there, why don't we lead them on a bit while we talk, hmm?"

"Um ,I'm not sure that's a good idea to-"

"Oh even better, we'll walk back to the house the long way so they get stuck behind us and begin panicking when we head back home!"

"Um that's-"

"Nope we're doing it!" Ai exclaimed as she quickly finished her smoothie and stood up looking at Kimihito. "Well let's go, beside we can walk and talk right? Or are you worried about tripping on the sidewalk like you used to?"

"I won't trip." Kimihito said as he resigned himself to his mother plans and got up from the table just in time for her to drop some money on the table and drag him off the patio and down the street.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" "Ah they hugged!" Miia exclaimed as she, Mero, Papi and Cerea watched the café patio from just behind its corner wall.

"Is boss chirping on us?" Papi squeaked in a tone of sadness and worry, misspeaking cheating, though everyone ignored it for the moment.

"We don't know that, it could be his mother though, could it not?" Mero voiced, causing Miia to look of clear disbelief.

"No way, that girl looks too young!" Miia exclaimed with a hiss.

"Yours and Papi's mothers looked quiet young as well." Cerea stated calmly. "And I have heard Japanese women age very well."

"Well okay, but she looks almost our age!"

"Perhaps she's Beloveds Cousin then?" Mero asked, strangely avoiding the tragic idea of it indeed being another girl he was seeing.

"Maybe, they do look passably similar" Miia said as he grip on the edge of the wall tightened.

"I do think they are related though, she looks more than just passably related to the master," Cerea commented as she looked and strained her eyes for a moment. "Do they both look oddly serious?

"How can you tell! Boss's head is facing that away!" Papi exclaimed almost too loudly, causing Miia to hiss at her to be quieter.

"It does appear that she looks serious," Mero agreed with a nod. "I wonder what they are speaking about.

"Yeah we'll need to get close to hear them though, and they'd see us before us. . . . They're getting up, no, she's dragging darling away!" Miia exclaimed, sounding horrified and betrayed as her tail began to shake frantically.

"Shall we follow them then perhaps?" Mero asked just as Miia began slithering out from their hiding place, keeping her body as low to the ground as possible, which elicited more than a few confused glanced from onlookers that noticed her.

"Looks like we have little choice In the matter. Papi, perhaps you should take to the air and follow them as well." Cerea said with a sigh, knowing that if she couldn't stop Miia, she may as well play a part in this insanity.

"Okay, I follow boss!" Papi chirped as she took off, leaving Cerea to grab the handles of Mero's wheel chair and began following Miia down the street as she looked ridiculous attempting to hide behind anything she could.

Following Her darling and the unknown human woman down the street Miia could tell that they were talking about something casual from the reactions the two of them were giving, but she couldn't get close enough to hear what they were talking about because everything she could possibly hide behind was so far apart.

As she followed them around a corner Miia saw something that caused her blood to run cold-er, than usual. The woman passing her darling what appeared to be a Pack of bills. Was, this some sort of strange reverse prostitution? Was her darling so intent on not touching her that he'd go after women on the street?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Ai said as she pulled out a wad of bills and handed them to Kimihito. "Since I knew I was coming I figured I'd hand you the money for all the bills in person."

" . . .couldn't you just send the money in yourself since you're here?" Kimihito asked with an accusing glare.

"Of course, but it seems to have really messed with your Lamia friends head, so there's no problem!" Ai said with a laugh that caused Kimihito to sigh to himself.

"Ugh. . . . . . . . . . I almost forgot how much you like messing with people." Kimihito said with a sigh.

"Aw don't be like that Hito, I never messed with you or you father nearly as much as I could have!" Ai said with a smile as she threw her arm awkwardly around Kimihito's neck, probably to aggravate Miia.

"Ugh, please stop Mom." Kimihito said with another sigh, using it to hide the fact that he was enjoying his time with his mother as the two of them turned around a corner. "Oh yeah, you said dad was in Harpy lands right? Are you worried?"

"About what?"

"Well, he was in Kobold lands for the longest time, so that wouldn't have been bad, but Harpies can be, um . . . . ."

"Oh my! My Hito has experience in bed already! When can I expect the grandkids?" Ai asked with a sarcastic giggle.

"That is not what I meant."

"I know. I'm guessing you've met more than just the one little harpy following us then yes?"

"Yeah, I've met her mother . . . actually, I've met all of their mothers. Miia, Cerea, Papi, and Mero's. I guess liminal parents being strange is normal."

"It's not that liminal families are strange, it's that the cultures are different from human culture so you find it a bit strange. Though I'm guessing the Lamia and Centaur mothers were probably a bit overbearing or . . . . . . .willing, yes?"

"Miia's mother, yes." Kimihito said with a blush as he glanced away, completely understanding what his mother was getting at.

"Yeah I figured. As to your father being in harpy lands, I'm not worried, he knows what I'd do to him if he tried anything, and your father knows about three dozen liminal safe Grappling methods to get them off him if they force anything. He'll be fine. Why did you want a little harpy sister?"

"Ugh, No! Please don't bring that kind of thing up!" Kimihito said with a sound that was almost like a growl. "I have enough on my plate dealing with everyone's advances as it is."

"Oh, how many are going after you?"

"Almost everyone saying at the house." Kimihito admitted. "Mrs. Smith didn't help by telling me that she wants me to marry one of them either."

"Ah, so Kuroko wants proof that a Liminal and human can marry out in the open huh? I'm surprised she didn't tell me about that part!"

"She just dropped Miia at our place in the first place too. It's like she's using our house as a testing and drop off point!"

"Yeah, she's probably doing it because she knows I'd find it more interesting than problematic." Ai said with a giggle.

"Ugh, so it's your fault I've gone through all that."

"Oh don't be so rigid Hito, you had fun I can tell, and I'm sure you fared fine, probably."

"I've gotten my arms dislocated at least twice each."

"You haven't gotten any bones broken though yes?"

"No, though I did have to go the hospital once and they almost kept me because I didn't have any broken bones." Kimihito said as he glanced at his mother with a accusing stare.

"Oh come now, you should thank me for your good genes! Though it would have been great if you had been born a girl, then we could've had nights out on the town together drinking and-"

"Please stop."

"Aww, your no fun Hito!" Ai said with a smile as she glanced around, noticing that they had left the commercial district and were entering the residential area where their house was, only a few blocks away. "By the way, I heard you caught the mutant strain of LTS a bit ago yes?"

"What, oh, is that what you're doing research on now?" Kimihito asked in reply to his mother's sudden question.

"Yes, the way it changes a person body in a mere two – seven hour is fascinating, and it changes everything down to even the genetic level, leaving only enough base code in the person's blood to return them to normal. I'm looking into how it keeps the code in a person blood, and how it affects it. Potentially if we can isolate the virus and Synthesize it, it could revolutionize medial engineering and-"

"Your rambling mom.

" . . . . Oh, I'm sorry. I guess you still remember how I get when talking about work huh?"

"well, it is why you haven't been home in over two years." Kimihito said casually with a shrug. It was something he had dealt with often In the past, so he was used to it. "I thought LTS was supposed to confidential though?"

"Yeah, it is but it's becoming difficult to keep hidden, with how it reacts to people and the new mutant strain." Ai admitted with a sigh. "I was actually forcibly removed from the lab for at least a week because I wasn't sleeping and my superiors were worried about my health."

"Yeah, don't hurt yourself please. Dad would never allow it."

"And you wouldn't either would you?" Ai said with a laugh as she hugged Kimihito, picking him up easily a foot off the ground without breaking a sweat, despite their similar height.

"No I suppose I wouldn't. So you'll be staying home for week then?"

"Probably more than that honestly, but we'll see what happens. If LTS goes through another sudden mutation I'll probably be called back to the lab immediately."

"Okay, well I don't know how easy it will be with everyone home, but try to get some ret okay."

"I will. It will be a treat to eat your cooking again!"

"Yeah and- oh, I forgot I'll need to do some grocery shopping today then."

"Oh, well it might have to wait actually." Ai said as she stopped walking.

"Why is that?" Kimihito asked as he stopped a step or two later, allowing him to see the reason just after he spoke, behind them down the sidewalk.

"Because, I think our little exchange students got caught by an officer." Ai said with a wink as she began walking back toward the commotion, with Kimihito right behind her.

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"Wait, um we do have our outing permit I swear it!" Miia blatantly lied as she feigned looking though her pockets hoping to gain a few seconds to see a moment to dart away from the officer who had stopped them.

"Ah, I knew this was a bad idea." Cerea said with a sigh. She was annoyed they were getting In trouble for going out without master, but she also understood that the officer was just doing his job, and she couldn't fault him for that. "Miia just admit that we don't-"

" AAAAAAHHHH Centorea you're crazy! I have them right here somewhere so it's alright!" Miia nearly shrieked to drown out Centorea' voice as he sped up hr frantic fake searching.

" Now now, there's no need to worry girls now is there?" Suddenly came a young and almost fun sounding female voice as Kimihito and the woman he was with walked up, Kimihito looking exasperated, and the woman giving the officer a strangely warm smile.

The office looked over to Kimihito and Ai and narrowed his gaze to them. "These four are exchange students, but are out without their outing permits or their host so-"

"That is not true actually, but I don't think that matters," Ai said as she took of her glasses with a one hand and stared directly at the officers eyes with her own dep red eyes. "Why don't you leave them in my care and forget all about this, yes?"

The officer looked at Ai for a second and then, to everyone's surprise nodded his head. "Yes, you're right; I have other things to do. Have a pleasant day."

"Of course and you as well!" Ai called to the office as he walked away like a robot, his limbs hard and locked in place. Once he turned a corner and disappeared Air looked over to Miia, Cerea, Mero, and Papi who had just landed and smiled. "Well that went well yes?"

"Um, ah, Darling who is this woman!" Miia finally snapped and demanded as she pointed to Ai, her teeth chattering against each other in blind rage.

"Well she's my-"

"Why don't we do introduction once we get back home so we only do it once alright?" Ai suddenly interrupted, causing Mero to look at her and tilt her head.

"Home, you know where we are staying?"

Ai just smiled.

 **Authors note: Wheeee another chapter, I'm on a role, but don't expect chapters this fast very often. especially once I get monster hunter generations.**

 **I'm sure I've shown quite a few things people will be curious about, so I'll let that simmer n your heads for a bit. Oh yeah, and what do you think of Kimihito's mother?**

 **Either way that's the chapter and there probably won't be another for at least a full week if not more, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one!**


	14. CH14 - Regular panic - Blood fears

The walk back to the Kurusu house was short, quiet, and above all else, awkward for everyone. Except Ai.

her refusal to tell Miia, Papi, Cerea and Mero her identity caused them all to be leery of her as they walked back to the house, and the fact that she had taken up a position directly at Kimihito's right, seemed to anger them even more. Miia especially seemed to take it as personal vendetta and was trying to press up against Kimihito's left side as snugly as possible, mostly making him trip on every second step.

Once they made it back to house Cerea became the one who was suddenly acting pushy, seemingly terrified that Ai took the front of the group and unlocked the door to the house with Kimihito's key. Once they got into the living room and had gathered everyone to do introductions, things became even more chaotic, though not In the way that Kimihito had expected.

"Okay, everyone I would like to do the introductions then." Kimihito said as he drew in a big breath and slowly let it out. "Everyone, this is my mother."

For a moment the room was completely silent, then nearly everyone exploded with the exact same reaction, screams of surprise. Kimihito couldn't even make out everyone's words because they were said so simultaneously, but didn't bother trying to do anything, knowing his mother; she was enjoying this and would want to truly introduce herself at her own pace, contrary to what everyone else wanted.

"Now now, there's no need to yell when I haven't even said anything yet!" Ai said with a smile, causing those who had yelled to calm down and allowed Rachnera, who had been quiet to speak.

"So, you are Honey's mother then?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a name?" Rachnerea asked. Causing Ai's smile to lessen slightly, though no one but Kimihito probably noticed.

"Yes, so allow me to introduce myself then. My name is Ai Kurusu, Kimihiro's mother. I know I haven't been around the house because of work, but I hope you all have learned much while staying here as exchange students, and I hope to get to know you all bit by bit!"

None of them knew how to react to Kimihito's mother's introduction. Even Rachnera who had prompted her, and Cerea who seemed like she'd be the most inclined to start such a conversation seemed unable to speak up. Finally Miia did, bring up something that Kimihito expected eventually, but not so soon.

" Um, you're darling's mother but um . . .are you actually human?" Everyone but Ai and Kimihito looked at Miia in shock and surprise that she'd even suggest that, but when she noticed everyone gazes she went on the defensive. "Ah, she looks human, but she like, mind controlled that officer that almost busted us earlier, remember Centorea!?"

"I remember, and it does interest me, but you cannot just ask someone if they are human! It's not correct and canto be a-"

"I'm not." Ai suddenly interrupted with a bright smile that caught everyone off guard.

"Then, is Honey actually-" Rachnera began to say, leaving her sentence hanging out in the open.

"No my Hito is perfectly human." Ai said with a smile as he gaze landed on Cerea. "You are the daughter of a centaur and human, yes?"

"Ah, yes but how did you-"

"When Liminals and Humans have kids together, the child is the same species as their same sex parent due to how Liminal Genetic material binds together with Human genetic material. If you had been born a man, you would have been human, and if Hito had been born a girl, he would have been a liminal!"

"Wow, you know a lot!" Mero exclaimed with a smile. "I've never heard about that!"

"It's not a commonly known fact, and won't be made commonly known until certain laws are passed probably. I only know because of my job." Ai said with a smile.

"Then, what exactly is your job?" Rachnera asked with a clever grin. "after all this time you suddenly appear, and Honey never said anything about you, so, was it something illegal perhaps?"

"Not really, though it would be if I brought any of my work home. I'm a Biologist, my speciality is biology related to blood, both human and liminal, and how they can mix or not mix. I've also done research on how human and liminal Genetics mix, and is currently on the team researching LTS. But that can't leave this room.

"Oh my, no wonder we never heard about you, it sounds like you are quiet busy." Mero exclaimed with a clap of her hands.

"That's basically it; I'm not home often because my work keeps me away for long periods. but I've been over working so I was sent home on a forced Vacation." Ai said with a smile as she decided to change the subject and glanced over to Kimihito. "So, I hear Kuroko wants one of you to marry Hito yes?"

Miia, Cerea, Papi, and even Suu all voiced their replies at once making it nearly impossible to discern what they said. Ai seemed to not care though and laughed as she looked to Rachnera and Mero, seeing their gazes toward Hito and smiled even more. "It seems like they all have their eyes on you Hito!"

Kimihito seemed to slink slight lower at his mother's words, the girls now arguing with themselves. "Please don't remind me, I'm not physically even close to ready."

"I suppose so; you've had it pretty tough with LTS after all.

"Y-you now about that?"

"Of course I do, I'm the one doing tests on people blood to see how it effects them." Ai said with a smile that quickly turned strange. "I can check if you still have it if you like?"

"But I'm human again, and Mrs. Smith never said anything about-."

"You might still have it though. we've found with the mutant strain that people will sometimes return to normal for a day or two before it becomes effective again. It's probably to normalize the infected brainwaves, but we're not entirely sure at the moment. I can check for you if you like though?"

"This check, it's what I think it is, isn't it?" Kimihito deadpanned with a sigh.

"Maaaaayybe," Ai said with a smile as she averted her gaze from Kimihito.

"Ugh, fine then." Kimihito said with another sigh as he raised his arm.

The girls however did not notice this, too enthralled by their own arguments, until Rachnera spoke up an covered her face as she spoke, " Oh my, I didn't expect that of all things."

"What?" Questioned Miia as she looked to Rachnera, and then followed her gaze to Kimihito and Ai, finding Ai appearing to be biting down on Kimihito's upper arm. " What the heck!?"

Hearing Miia's exclamation, and opening her eyes to see everyone staring at her in horror, Ai let go of Kimihito's arm and pulled her head back. with a quick lick of her teeth she pulled out a tiny cotton swab and pressed it onto Kimihito's arm, allowing him to take it and hold I there as she spoke. "Is something wrong?"

"You're biting master." Cerea said in shock, surprise, and sigust, clearly unsettled by it.

"What's wrong with it, it's only a little blood." Ai said with a smile that caused everyone but Rachnera to shrink away a bit as Ai turned to Kimihito. "Your blood tasted a bit thin on iron, have you been eating your vegetables Hito?"

"I was a Lamia for about a weak, I couldn't really."

"Ah, that makes sense; but you need to get your blood iron back up or it'll affect your health. Do we have any greens in the house, broccoli maybe?"

"Um, yes."

"Good we'll have that with dinner to get your blood iron back up." Ai said with a smile as he tongue lashed out and licked a tiny amount of bright red blood off the edge of her mouth with a smile. "Oh and you still have LTS, it's just dormant at the moment."

"Oh great." Muttered Kimihito as everyone looked on in shock and surprise.

"How do you know that?" Mero asked.

It wasn't Ai that answered the question however, but Lala, who had been quiet thus far.

"The nightwalker, drinker of blood, assassin of the night, tyrant of European lore and darkness." Lala said, causing everyone to look at her in confusion.

Rachnera however already knew what Lala was talking about. "You're a vampire."

"Yes, I was wondering when someone would realize it." Ai said with a snicker.

" What! Does that mean you brainwashed that officer into a slave to drink him dry later!" Miia exclaimed in horror, causing everyone but Lala and Rachnera to back up slightly, and causing Ai to break into laughter.

"Ha, of course not! It was just a minor hypnotism. It harmlessly wears off in a matter of minutes."

"B-but you're a vampire, so don't you drink peoples blood and turn them into ghouls?!" Miia sputtered.

"Some stories say that Lamia will catch humans and swallow them whole." Ai said with a grin. "And that mermaids will use songs to drag people to the depths to eat them. Are such stories true?"

"Oh dear me, of course not!" Mero exclaimed, sounding almost angry at the suggestion.

"Exactly. Stories say a lot of things, but the truth if often very different from them, yes?" Ai asked with a giggle. "Vampires do drink blood, but we can drink it to supplement our intake, when other food becomes scarce. I'm not dependant on it though once in a while it isn't bad."

"B-but you hypnotized that officer!" Miia exclaimed, apparently not entirely hearing what Ai was explaining.

"Yes, vampires can use simply hypnosis, but it does not last long and can only be used for simple orders. It cannot break a person's ideals either. In the past it was simply used to make people forget that they were fed on. But it doesn't see much use now."

" I'd think it would get much use if you could hypnotize an officer like that." Cerea stated grimly, making it sound like crime would be easier to commit, and sounding none too happy about it.

"True, but I caught him by surprise under normal situation most officers would not be so easily hypnotized. And all i told him to do was leave you to me, so his mind likely automatically thought I was your homestay, which I am!" Ai explained, adding a hint of a smile to her last words, something that everyone including Miia realized. she was Kimihito's mother, so she was in a way as much their host as Kimihito was.

"Ah, right. . . . Um, sorry." Miia nearly whispered as she shrunk down almost to the floor with embarrassment, realizing that she was just harassing her darlings own mother.

"It's no problem." Ai said with a shrug.

"But, how do you know that boss still has LST!" Papi asked in her usual tone.

"That's LTS actually. And I knew from the taste of his blood, it still tastes slightly, off for a humans." Ai explained as she suddenly looked at the clock on the wall. "Well since we've been talking for so long, why don't we get dinner started?"

Kimihito looked at his mother for a moment before he realized that she meant both of them and nodded. This was quickly followed by almost everyone following the two of them into the kitchen wanting to help, leaving only Rachnera and Lala in the living room.

After a few moments Rachnera yawned and walked off without saying a word, leaving Lala completely alone in the living room, the distant kitchen quickly sounding like a battlefield of clashing personalities.

"Strange . . . . . . His mother be a liminal and he be not, but perhaps that is how he survives despite the events that circulate around him. But, what is this strange feeling I. . . . . . Perhaps I be imagining these things or-"

"Oh Lala dinner is ready!" Papi exclaimed as she bounded into the room, causing Lala to suddenly stiffen up in surprise, causing Papi to look at her in confusion. "Something wrong?"

"N-Nay, I merely feel the confluence of life and death as usual, and the sudden intensity of ye soul staggered mine consciousness."

"Okay!" Papi exclaimed just as energetically as she ran out of the living room again.

Lala let out a sigh and began walking toward the kitchen. Whatever the strange feeling she was having it was probably nothing. Besides, it would be more interesting seeing how everyone acted around Kimihito with his mother around, than worrying about nothing.

 **Authors note: Yahoo, iv had monster hunter for maybe a week and I'm already on rank 4 quests! And I even found time to write between grinding Nargacuga's and Najarala's!**

 **So yeah, that's Ai's species and my argument for it. It seems understandable, especially since it was revealed that Cerea's father was indeed a human. Also, it's hard doing Lala's speech when not doing it in chuni speak because she's supposed to have an older kind of Irish feel to it. Dam that's hard to write, and there barely was any! (I wonder if I'll be fine doing her speech in the future (Lala for best girl!))**

 **So, I hope you all liked the chapter, and don't worry, Ai sticking around will only make things more hectic for Kimihito, and everyone else, mwuahahaha!**

 **PS . unrelated, but I have a poll on my profile page assign people what sort of fics they'd be interested In me doing In the far future, so if you want, could you cast some votes maybe?**


	15. CH15 - Regular Panic - Shopping

Kimihito opened his eyes and sighed as he sat up in his bed and checked himself over. With the way things had been going, and the fact that he apparently still had LTS, he wasn't about to take any chances.

His body still appeared human, and male, which was in itself something worth being thankful for, and as he touched his body all over he found nothing immediately wrong. He was slightly sore, but with everything that had been happening recently, and then his nervousness about his mother coming, it was more than just understandable.

Getting dressed and then waling down to the kitchen Kimihito expected to find it empty, as no one but Cerea was much of a morning person, including his mother. Much to his surprise though, he found his mother, and Rachnee sitting, as it were, in the kitchen talking.

"So I said, oh, good morning Hito!" Ai called out midsentence as she noticed Kimihito come into the kitchen, looking mildly surprised.

"Uh, good morning mom, good morning Rachnee." Kimihito replied as he came into the kitchen and over to the stove top as he began grabbing things from cupboards and shelves.

"Morning, AAAYYYYNNNN, Honey." Rachnee said with a Yawn as she smiled and watched Kimihito begin to work for a few moments. "Your mother and I were just having a little light morning conversation, mostly about you."

Kimihito froze up nod very slowly turned his head so he could see the two of them. "Please not on what I think."

"Oh don't worry, your mother was just bring up some things that happened a few years ago from the sounds of it, and I've been telling her about what's been going on, primarily about the fun you've been having with LTS!" Rachnee said with a soft smile that felt devious somehow.

"Yes, a Lamia and then an Eel, not a bad combination honestly," Ai said with a light giggle as she grabbed a glass of water off the table and took a sip. "I'm actually surprised we didn't hear you wake up with a scream from changing again. I haven't heard any reports of LTS resting for more than a day."

"I'm glad." Kimihito said as he began slicing some bread with his back to his mother and Rachnee so he could concentrate on what he was doing, mainly breakfast. "It was enlightening I will admit, but it was more of a hassle that I ever thought it could be. I never thought not having legs would make things so complicated, and I don't think I'll ever have a problem diving now."

"Sounds fun!" Ai exclaimed as she took another drink, eliciting a stare from Rachnee, one she noticed rather quickly. "Is something wrong Miss Rachnera?"

"Ah I apologize for staring, it's just that, if you are a vampire, I can't help but notice that none of your teeth look particularly, sharp."

Ai smiled and tunred her head fully to Rachnee before opening her mouth, showing her primary canines suddenly slide out to twice their length before sliding back to their normal length. "You mean those ones?"

"Your teeth are, . . ."

" Retraceable yes. They have to be; otherwise I'd keep cutting my own mouth on them or would need a detachable jaw. It does make going to the dentist an adventure though, and taking a hit to the jaw can be absolutely horrific for vampires because of it the dental."

"Oh my that's-"

Rachnee began to say until Miia came in and the conversation inevitably changed its direction.

Kimihito smiled as he moved all of the bread he had cut and began dunking it in batter, listening to the small idle chatter that quickly began to rise as everyone trickled into the kitchen and sat down, waiting for breakfast. He heard his name mentioned in passing repeatedly, but decided he'd just ignore it. Just casually half listening to the conversation was enough to tell him that nearly everyone appeared to get along with his mother better than he had hoped. In hindsight it seemed obvious, his mother was a liminal, one who had been in human society for a long time from even before all the law for it, so everyone seemed very interested in her and how her relationship with his father had went. at last twice the conversation sounded to turn towards taking him for their own, but each time, much to Kimihito's surprise, it sounded like his mother denied them outright, probably saying they should convince him themselves for it being more fun or something.

"Fried bread?" Miia exclaimed in surprise, with a tiny amount of horror tinting her voice a she looked at the plate that Kimihito placed in front of her, just before placing a similar plate in front of everyone else.

"It's called French toast, it's a western dish," Ai said as she picked up her knife and fork and began cutting it into pieces. "But why this Hito?"

"We never had a chance to go shopping yesterday, so until I get some groceries, there's is not much choice for anything actually." Kimihito explained as he leaned at the counter to eat his food, his mother's arrival making the table just a little bit too crowded for him to easily sit down.

"I see. mmhhmm, it tastes very good master." Cerea proclaimed as she took a bite of it and then quickly began cutting it up to eat the rest.

"I don't know, it smells kind of funny, isn't it just grain and more grain?" Miia asked as she and Papi both eyed the French toast with worry and unease.

"You're here on exchange to learn about japan culture that may include eating some food you do not fancy. It won't kill you though." Rachnee said as she took a bite and nodded slightly to herself, evidently not finding it too bad.

"I agree, we must be open to new ideas and things after all!" Mero exclaimed with a clap of her hands. "Though I do worry about the lack of groceries, will you go and buy some later today beloved?"

"I'm . . . . Planning on it." Kimihito said in a worried tone, remembering what happened when Lala came to the house and everyone decided to go shopping with him. The way Mero asked made him worry about the chance of it happening again, and when he looked at the face his mother was making, the possibility seemed more than that.

"We should all go and help then!" Ai exclaimed with a smile as she leaned back in her chair, glancing around to see everyone reactions. And just as Kimihito expected, Miia, Cerea, Mero and Papi all seemed more than willing to tag along, and voice the desire quicker than Kimihito could try to shoot the idea down.

"Then it's settled! Once we all finish breakfast we'll head out shopping!" Ai exclaimed as she looked to Rachnee, "Are you, Suu and, oh dear, what was the other girls name?"

"Lala?" Asked Suu as she sat in a corner as a blob on the floor with a piece of French toast floating inside her, slowly being dissolved where it sat in her form.

"Ah yes thank you, Suu, are you three coming perhaps?"

"I believe I will stay behind with Suu, as to Lala, I do not know, you'd have to ask her." Rachnee replied, causing Ai to glance around.

"Lala's around somewhere, but usually not when anyone's looking for her." Kimihito said with a sigh, knowing how hard it was to find her anywhere except outside, whatever that riverside place he kept going to was called. It was probably the shore of the Sanzu river, but he wasn't about to tell anyone that he had kept seeing her there of all places. that would just panic everyone, for numerous reasons.

"I see, then I guess we'll ask if we see her . . . . . . .how exactly does she learn anything?" Ai asked after a few moments.

"I'm not sure, I think she might go out on her own, but I've never seen her leave." Kimihito replied, causing Rachnee to speak up as well.

"Neither have I, but it's possible she is somewhere in the house at all times."

"I see." Ai said with a confused look as she looked around and then smiled. "Well everyone's done, so let's go shopping!"

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Having brought along Mero, Miia, Cerea, and Papi on a shopping trip once before, Kimihito figured he had a decent idea of what to expect. the fact that they went to a full sized Grocery store however completely broke any preconception he had about what could possibly go wrong, or did go wrong.

Just as expected, the workers of the Meat departments went insane when they came by, panicking and attempting to hide all the fish and fowl they had out In the open, despite Kimihito, Mero, and Ai's words telling them it was fine. Only when one of their managers came by and spoke with Mero and Ai, did the situation calm down.

For a second.

The situation turned a one sixty when Miia apparently was smelling something wrong with the stores meat, and when Papi ended up agreeing with her, Kimihito was forced to Guide them away to avoid another incident. Apparently their carnivorous senses did not like vacuumed packed meat or something like that.

Going around the rest of the store didn't seem to be much of a problem, but with his mother bouncing across the store from display to display in each aisle and the girls going when she called them to ask them about things, Kimihito was left with the ever increasingly heavy shopping cart.

After what felt like an eternity of pushing the cart along Kimihito found the girls all gathered around his mother as they looked at something at the end of an aisle, giving him a small chance to just stand there and calm down. Unfortunately luck was not on his side.

"Whoa! Check it out it's like they let the cattle out into the market!" A rude and obnoxious, clearly racist man said with a laugh as he and what appeared to be hid girlfriend came around a corner and began pointing and gawking at everyone.

"Yeah I wonder if they'd taste like horse or chicken!" The girl added with a laugh as all the girls turned to look at them, Ai included.

The two of them were people Kimihito had seen before, though seen and punched could be interchangeable, and the desire to do so was rising greatly as he felt himself take a step toward them. Ai however, made it there first, and simply strode up to them and stood there, looking at the man in the eyes.

" Huh, what, you got a problem Bi-" The man began to say to Ai, just as she raised an arm and slapped him across the face so hard it left a red mark on his cheek, and left him completely stunned as he simply turned back and looked at her in shock and frozen surprise.

"You are disgusting." Ai stated simply, the eyes of every nearby person glued onto her and the scene before them. "These girls are exchange students here learning about our culture. They are worthy of respect for doing something that so many would consider scary, not your disgusting and racist opinions!"

"Y- You can't just-"

Ai smacked the man across the face again with her other hand as she continued. " They have left their home and families and come to a place where many are leery of them, where their very form provokes a small sum of fear in some cases, and they are here to learn regardless. I doubt you have ever done something half as courageous. I doubt you've ever even done anything decent with your whole life from the looks of you!"

"Hey you can't say that to him you-!" The girl with the man suddenly exclaimed, until Ai looked at her.

" Go. home. Now!" Ai said, her iris's flashing red, causing the woman's expression to change from one of shock and anger to uncaring melancholy.

"Ah . . . . Oh. . . . I'm going home now." she said, her voice low and weak, sounding like she was in a daze as she turned around and began walking away, leaving her man with a look of surprise and confusion"

"What? How did . . . what did you just do you-"the man roared as he turned back to Ai and rose a hand to hit her, only for Kimihito to step up and Grab the man's arm in anger at the thought of both someone harassing Everyone, and Hurting his mother.

"Don't try it." Kimihito said simply, causing the man to wrench his arm away from Kimihito when he saw him.

" Whatever, I'm done with this crap!" he yelled as he turned and stormed his way down the nearest aisle and out of sight.

For a second Both Ai and Kimihito let out a sigh, then Miia, Mero, Cerea and Papi exploded while all the nearby onlookers quietly clapped and nodded at the handling of what just happened.

"Wow now I know where darling gets that sudden temper from, That was amazing how you stood up to that guy!" Miia exclaimed with an ecstatic smile.

"Indeed, but was that truly safe for you?" Mero added quickly, just before Cerea did.

"Indeed Lady Kurusu, you could have been hurt, and what if it was discovered you hurt a human like that?"

"That's the greatest part actually," Ai said with a grin. "I'm a citizen of japan, and my citizenship states I am human, as it was done before the Extra species laws. Vampires can Masquerade as humans quiet easily after all."

"But how did you get it done, someone had to know yes?" Cerea asked slightly quieter, realizing that what they were talking about could be taken wrongly by some if overhear incorrectly.

"No not really, my family always lived in japan, though Kuroko did do some minor paperwork help for me on occasion." Ai Admitted as she turned to Kimihito. " You know I could have dealt with that thug quiet easily Hito."

"He was harassing you for the sake of it. I couldn't stand it." Kimihito admitted, causing all the girls to blush slightly, knowing that he meant that he couldn't stand someone harassing them!

"True, you do come by it naturally I suppose. I hate people like that." Ai stated with a grim scowl before turning back to everybody with a smile. " Alright then, I think we have everything, let's go pay and head back home!"

Kimihito smiled as everyone quickly went back to their enjoyable conversation as they made their way to the Cashiers. Despite what just happen the day was turning out pretty, good, and Kimihito hoped it could stay that way.

LTS had different plans for the next day however.

 **Authors note: No transformation this chapter, instead it's a bit more info on Ai, because why not, even Kimihito needs arrest before more insanity. XD**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next. Kimihito's problems are about to multiply!**


	16. CH16 - Hate Times Eight - Legs abound

Kimihito opened his eyes and found his vision full of white. a quick blink told him what it was, his pillow. The strange thing though was the fact that he was lying on his front and felt like his chest was being crushed, when he normally slept on his back. His chest being crushed made his mind quickly race through the options of what could be happening. Someone could be sitting on him, and while he strangely could not feel his legs at the moment, he didn't feel a Weight on his back, so that ruled out that idea. The other option was the worse one, and with a slight shifting of his body it became clear that was what it was.

He had breasts and was squishing them under his own body. He had turned into a woman again, which meant he had turned into a Liminal again. Realizing that she was now Kimi again made her sigh, but did ease some worries to an extent. The only problem now was to look over her own body, and figure out what exactly she had become this time.

Twisting her head so she could see the door to her room Kimi pulled one of her arms in front of her face to look it over, hoping it wouldn't be slick with mucus or something similar that made it difficult to hold things. Being an Eel really had put just what Mero always went through into perspective. Luckily she found her arm not covered in mucus, and instead it looked, strange. Even in the dim morning light barely filtering into her room, her arm looked dark in its color, and from her wrist up to her elbow was covered it what looked, and felt, like dark hair. her hand was odd too, completely black, and possibly tipped with small claws. With the dim light it was impossible to make a completely good look however, so she tried to move out of the bed, and found that it wasn't just her legs, but everything below the waist that she couldn't feel.

The first time it had happened had been terribly scary, and the second had been unnerving, but now, the third time, Kimi knew that is she could feel beyond a certain spot it probably meant that her body had changed in such a way that she didn't know how to move it. Which meant this was going to suck.

A Lot!

Bringing up her other arm and placing it on her bed by her pillow, Kimi tried to push herself up and look behind her, only to find her back extremely sore, and her waist twinging with a sudden pain as well, forcing her to turn her head back and hang it down. This of course gave her a perfect view of her fully uncovered breasts, causing her to shake her head and look away. Just because she was now a girl, didn't mean seeing such things wouldn't get her going, in fact it had almost done just that numerous times already. And had once sort of led to something.

Attempting to twist her body on to her back once more Kimi found that she was beginning to feel her lower body again, and then realized, much to her dismay that the opposite of what had happened twice before had happened this time. Wincing at the idea, Kimi focused all of her power onto moving her lower body and found herself slowly, rising up off her bed. It seemed the reason she had been on her front was it was a more common or maybe perhaps natural sleeping pose for her current species.

thinking she might've gotten the hang of it quicker than before, as she had gotten a hang of an eels movement easily after a Lamia's, Kimi tried to climb down of her bed, only to fall flat on her face with a heavy thud, her lower body, flailing behind and then over her, flipping her onto her back.

Grabbing her face, primarily her nose to make sure it wasn't broken; Kimi felt something off about her face. then, as if hoping to find evidence to the contrary, she moved her hand and looked down to where her lower body was sitting below her, and felt herself sigh with frustration and dismay.

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Ai Sat in the large single chair in the living room and hummed to herself as she held a cup of tea in her hands. Blood orange tea. There was no actual blood in it, but she liked the taste, as well as watching people's reactions when they tried to find a correlation between being a vampire and liking something with blood in its name, when only the vague color was similar to it in any way.

Finishing off her cup she placed it down on the coffee table and was about to get up when she heard the telling sound of heavy clicks on the floorboards. Miia did not make nearly any noise when moving, similar to Mero, and the clicks were too quick to be Centorea, leaving only one option as to who was coming down the stairs toward the living room, and Ai found herself smiling when she found herself correct in her assumption. "Good Morning Rachnera."

Rachnee stopped and looked up as she was about to walk past the living room towards the kitchen, and gave a yawn and a wave to Ai. " Morning. I Guess Honey gets his morning-ness from you then."

"No, not really, I just don't need that much sleep, so I'm either awake all night long, or I wake up early In the morning. It drives my husband crazy when I won't come to bed, but it was quiet useful when Hito was younger and going to school."

"I can see how it might be," Rachnera said with another yawn as she came into the living room and planted herself on a small pile of cushions near the Chair Ai was sitting in. "I don't hear any noise from the kitchen, is Honey still asleep?"

" Yes, it seems everyone is, Except Centorea of course, I saw her go out on her morning run about half an hour ago."

" Ugh, I wonder why I'm waking up so early lately. Maybe it's instinct telling to prepare of the winter, ugh."

" It is nearing the end of summer I suppose, do you not normally awaken early?"

" No, I like my sleep." Rachnee said simply as she let out another yawn, just as a heavy thud was heard from the second level. " oh, I think that's Honey."

"What makes you say that Rachnera?" Ai asked with a smile.

"Because, the last two times He changed into a Liminal, She ended up falling onto the floor. The first time it was because she couldn't move on her own, and the second time was from getting tangled in the covers."

"Oh my, this I have to see then, would you be coming with me to see what Hito has turned into?" Ai asked as she stood up from the chair and looked at Rachnee with a devious smile.

" I think I will, it could be interesting." Rachnee replied with an equally devious grin as she got up and followed Ai out of the living room. they would have gone up the stairs and then knocked on Kimihito's door, but instead they found her outside of her room lying at the top of the stairs, looking very much, not human.

Her eyes were a solid light blue in color, and she had a total of six of them arranged in two triangles with the extra eyes about half the size of her main ones. Her upper arms were covered in soft looking black hair and her hands were made of exoskeletal carapace. Her lower body however was the most different, as it was quiet obviously Like Rachnee's, that of an Arachne's. like Rachnee her entire lower spider body was covered in hard carapace, but unlike Rachnee, the lower ends of each of her legs, and the pedipalps coming out from her hips where a human legs would normally be connected, had more of the black hair covering them, though the very tips of each leg was not covered, revealing the often dangerous looking hard tips. Her hair was once again longer like a girls, but not past her shoulders, but what was most surprising was that the basic size of her body had not changed in the least, and that the Spider part of her was in proportion to her human section. This made her look just over half the size of Rachnee, Similar to a Small breed Arachne, but not quite as small.

Kimi was lying on her Abdomen and stomach, her many legs splayed out around her, some of them over each other, with her arms hanging down the top few stairs. Her expression could be best described as annoyed or perhaps disgusted with herself and she looked less than amused as she spoke up, all of her eyes squinting at Rachnee and her mother. "Don't say it. Just don't say it."

"Well, I suppose there's nothing to say as it's pretty clear what LTS has turned you into," Ai said with a giggle as she shook her head. "This is a good chance to get some data, so I'll get some tools and meet you both in the living room in a few minutes." Ai stated as she shook her head with a smile and walked away from the stairs and down the hall, leaving Rachnee at the bottom of the stairs, and Kimi at the top.

" . . . . .Having a little trouble Honey?" Rachnee asked after a few moments of silence between them.

Kimi scowled with her many eyes glaring at Rachnee. "You could say that. I figured since having no legs had been so difficult, that having extra legs would be easier and I would only have to worry about not tripping myself up."

"Not that easy to learn is it?" Rachnee said with a smile as she slowly climbed the stairs until she was only a few feet down from Kimi, taking up the entire width of the stairwell.

"No, not really. I kept tripping over all of these legs, and everything seems odd when I look at it."

"Yes, Arachne have a wider range of visible light we can see. I'm guessing everything looks a little bit brighter and there are other colors right?"

"A bit and shadows look strange, like their waving or something."

"Yes that's normal, though I'm guessing Humans don't see them that way. It allows us to see things that are not moving in very dark places, but let's deal with later shall we? Do you need some help getting down the stairs?"

"Does it look like that?" Kimi said as she shakily stood up off the floor, all of her legs shaking a bit, unsure of their footing. "And what are these for anyway!" She suddenly exclaimed as her pedipalps twitched slightly. "All they've done is getting in the way it seems."

"I'll explain your pedipalps at . . . another time." Rachnee said as she felt the need to hold back slightly on the amount of teasing she could do just with that single subject. Then very carefully, she turned around in the stairwell, careful to not scratch anything, and then lowered her body slightly so her abdomen was facing Kimi. "Stairs can be troublesome until you learn to utilize your inner ear more effectively, so I'll make this easy on you for now, climb . . . . Onto my, abdomen."

Kimi looked at Rachnee in confusion. The way that Rachnee had spoken sounded, off from how she normally spoke, almost like she was embarrassed or unsure of what she was saying. But if she was willing to help like this. . . "Um, how do I do that, I don't want to hurt you, and these, um, feet seem, pointy." Kimi said as she very slowly and carefully moved a leg forward, finding that other legs were trying to move at the same time, which was the reason for her falling over so much just trying to leave her room.

"Um, just climb on and don't slip. You won't hurt me, my Abdomens exoskeleton is very tough, so don't worry." Rachnee said quickly as she kept her gave locked down the stairs and way from Kimi as she carefully began moving onto Rachnee's abdomen. Feeling her climb on Rachnee could feel herself blushing and very slightly shook her head to remove such thoughts from her head as she carefully carried Kimi down to the living room where Ai was waiting.

 **Authors note: Wheeee another one surprisingly fast this time, though I'm splitting the first day of this one in two chapters. Oh well, this transformation will be fun regardless.**

 **Can anyone guess why Rachnee's acting the way she is maybe? It's something I'm fiddling with that I hope shall be interesting for her character, so look forward to it!**


	17. CH17 - Hate Times Eight - Walking a line

"Ahhhhh! Of all the things for darling to become, he becomes a SPIDER!?" Miia hissed in a rage before sinking down onto her coils where she was sitting on the floor.

It had only been about ten minutes since Ai and Rachnee had found Kimi on the top of the stairs, and In that short time everyone had trickled down from their beds and Centorea had returned from her run.

The Living room was completely packed with everyone in it in some place or another. Lala, Papi, and Rachnee were conquering the main couch, with Centorea and Miia taking up positions on the floor and Mero in her Wheelchair. Kimi herself was planted on the floor at the head of the table, with the main chair behind her being taken by her mother, who had a laptop balanced on a small table beside it while she tapped away on the keyboard, so far ignoring the briefcase of needles and strange looking tools siting on the table. Everyone seemed to have mixed reaction to Kimi's newest transformation, except for Suu, who was more curious bout Ai's Computer and was hanging off the back of the chair ogling the screen like some kind of alien ooze.

"LTS is mostly random for its transformations, but it does sometimes follow the species that a person has had contact with to a certain extent." Ai said as she stopped tapping on the laptops keys, scowled, sighed, and pulled out a pair of thin glasses and put them on before continuing tapping away.

"That does appear to be true, but for master to become an Arachne is . . . . Unfortunate for him." Cerea said carefully, earning a casual smirk from Rachnee with a reply.

"Oh, you were hoping he'd turn into a centaur so you could rut then?"

"AH, o- o- of, - of course not!" Cerea exclaimed in embarrassed horror, her face turning as red as a strawberry as she nearly fell over in surprise at Rachnee's terrible comment.

"Relax, I was joking." Rachnee said smugly as she turned her gaze back to Kimi and felt her face flush slightly, remembering when she just minutes before had carried her down to the living room on her abdomen.

" All Joking aside, It will be extremely difficult for Hito to Learn how to move eight legs when he is used to two, or one as it was for a while." Ai said as she beckoned Kimi to pass her a large needle, and then once she had it, very gracefully plunged it into Kimi's arm, slowly drawing a very pale, almost clear red blood from her and into the needles vial.

"Don't worry; I'm sure I can Teach Kimi well enough. She may be smaller, but nothing about her anatomy is different from any other Arachne." Rachnee said simply with a wave of her hand and a smirk.

"I'm sure you will," Ai said with a strange grin as she removed the needle from Kimi and began splitting the blood into four different, smaller glass capsules. Once split, she placed three of the capsules aside and then placed one in a small chamber that was attached to the side of her computer and switched it on, a strange whirring sound steadily growing louder as she glanced up from it towards Mero. "Tell me, Mermaid and eels. There are of course Males of your species correct?"

"Of course. But, would you not know this as a-"Mero began to say, until Ai interrupted, her tone sounding less playful and more . . . . . intrigued.

"Yes I do, but it is still important to check these things." Ai said as she looked to Rachnee, posing the same question without saying a word.

"Male Arachne do exist," Rachnee said slowly and unsurely, "But they are, Rarer compared to Female Arachne, it's about a three to one Ratio actually."

"I see." Ai muttered as a small ping pulled her attention back to her computer. After looking at it for a second she then opened a second compartment on the computers attachment, slightly bit the end of her own thumb, and squeezed a small drop of her own blood onto the compartment and closed it. A few seconds later she was scowling, and then let out a sigh. "I figured as much, but seeing the confirmation of it is just, depressing."

"What, did you find a Cure to LTS on your own!?" Miia exclaimed in hopeful surprise.

"No, not even close."

"Boss isn't going back to normal then?" Papi asked Ai, who looked at her and then rolled her head I every direction.

"It depends, what I have found out is why Hito is getting turned into a girl though. I've confirmed it I should say technically, as I had already figured it would be this reason."

"What do you mean, isn't it normal?" Mero asked, eliciting a shake of Ai's head in response.

"No. for every other person with LTS they stay the same gender, and haven't become a single gendered species unless they were of that gender. Hito however is changing gender when LTS kicks in, because he's my son."

"What? How does that work?" Miia asked in confusion, something that appeared to be shared by almost everyone.

"The blood of demons courses through his veins, and denies the purity of form." Lala stated darkly, causing Rachnee to smile.

"Ah, I see."

"What? What is the reason already?" Miia nearly roared, evidently annoyed at not hearing the reason already.

"The reason Hito is becoming a woman is because he' my son." Ai repeated as she slightly glanced to Centorea. "You recall what I said about how a child of a human and Liminal Will be the species of their same sex parent, correct?"

"Yes, if I had been born a man I would have been human it sounds like, and that would have caused quiet the situation with my people if I had." Cerea replied stoically, shivering slightly at the idea.

"Yes it probably would have, but that exact reason is why he's becoming female all the time. As he is my son, my genes are in his body, so whenever his genes suddenly switch about and become those of a liminal, most, if not almost all of my genes are remaining untouched, and because of my genes, he's becoming a girl, because he would have been if he had been born a liminal."

The room was quiet for many moments until Rachnee sighed and looked over to everyone, "Kimi is becoming a Girl when a liminal because his mother is a liminal, and if he had been born a girl he would've been a liminal!"

"Ah, I see." Cerea said with a small nod as Miia looked around at everyone accepting that reasoning.

"What, how does that even make any sense, that's ridiculous!"

As ridiculous as a man turning into a liminal that is of an entirely female species?" Ai asked with a smile to Miia, causing her to slowly slump down.

"Oh um . . . I guess not."

" Well, now that that is settled," Ai began to say as she looked at her computer a bit, hummed an haa'd for a moment, then looked over to Kimi and Rachnee and smiled. "I'll do some more blood tests, but any other tests I'll have to do after Rachnera has taught you how to move about correctly. I'm not going to do any tests that could cause you to be injured even by accident!"

"Wow, she really is a mother." Miia said absently, causing Cerea to shoot her an angry glance to silence her.

"So what, I just start leaning now then?" Kimi sked carefully, not sure if she was entirely ready to try to move around on her own. Special since she had already put a large claw mark on the coffee table when she tried to get up once already. Apparently her hands were just as sharp as Rachnee's apparently were.

"No, the living room is too crowded to learn easily enough, and the halls would not be sufficient either due to the width of your body," Ai exclaimed as she thought to herself for a second and then looked to Rachnee. "You are residing in the attic yes? I haven't actually looked at it since before all the renovations. How much room is there?"

"The attics about twice as large as it was before." Kimi stated quickly.

"It is quiet large, I have substantial room up there to not get in the way. I can also spin my webs harmlessly as well, so it may be the best place actually." Rachnee added as she looked to Kimi with a smile.

"Alright, you should do it there then, though you should probably carry her there as the stairs may pose a problem for her legs at the moment." Ai said with a gleeful smile, hr words causing Rachnee to visibly blush and look away.

"I, I suppose there's no choice." Rahnee said without looking at Kimi as she got off the couch and came over with her abdomen facing Kimi.

"Um, alright, excuse me." Kimi said meekly as she tried to get, stumbled, and continued stumbling as she tried to move closer to Rachnee.

" Here, I'll give you a lift!" Ai said as she stood up, walked behind Kimi, placed a hand under her abdomen, and then lifted her up and over onto Rachnee's abdomen with one hand, dropping her there.

Being lifted and dropped so suddenly caused Kimi to be surprised, and her legs flailed out in each direction before they curled down onto Rachnee's abdomen, while she also grabbed onto Rachnee's back, basically hugging her from surprise. "Ah, sorry!" Kimi exclaimed as she quickly let go of Rachnee after a moment when she realized she had been grabbing her belly.

"It- it's alright, let's . . . let's go upstairs then, so hold . . . hold on." Rachnee said as she kept her gaze fixed forward, not even twitching her head back towards her back were Kimi was sitting as she walked out of the room with Kimi.

For many moments after Rachnee and Kimi left the living room was completely silent except for the whir of Ai's computer, until Papi broke the silence. "Was Rachnee all red in the face?"

"Yes I think she was blushing." Mero agreed with a pleasant smile.

"Strange, why was she blushing?" Cerea asked in confusion that was shared with Mia, who looked impossibly surprised and confused.

"Oh, you don't know?" Ai asked with a snicker as she whispered to Suu, who suddenly slid down the arm of the chair and onto the floor before climbing onto the table.

"Know what?" Miia asked as she looked to Ai, then to Suu, and back to Ai, clearly curious as to what Suu was doing.

"It's simple actually; most species of Spiders make their young fend for themselves from the get go. There is one species however that does not." Ai explained as Suu shifted into a little gelatinous blue spider shape on the table, then Made numerous little spider on her back, all gelatinous and light green in color. "The Wolf spider raises it's young, often carrying them on its back to protect them."

"Um, okay, but that's a regular spider right, not an Arachne." Miia said in a dull tone, not getting what Ai was going on about.

"Allow me to explain. Arachne are of course very similar to spiders, but are also similar to other Liminals and humans. Making your young fend for themselves does not create a strong species for most humanoid creatures, so they protect their young. It's not a well-known fact, but Arachne mothers often have numerous children, and both the mothers and their eldest children will often carry their young , or younger siblings, on their abdomens until they are of a certain age."

" . . . .Wait, so Rachnera, is looking at Master like a child?!" Cerea Exclaimed in surprise, with a small amount of horror in her voice.

"Probably not as a child, but more like a younger sister I'd think," Ai stated with a smile as she sat back in her chair and smiled.

"What makes you think that?" Mero inquired carefully.

"I've seen it before actually," Ai responded, "a few years ago I was in Arachne territory doing tests to see how seriously human diseases would affect them and saw it often. Arachne girls who carried around their younger siblings found it rather embarrassing to be seen by non-Arachne, because it's considered a familiar family thing."

". . . so, Rachnee was, embarrassed?!" Miia exclaimed in shock, having only seen her embarrassed once, when Darling had gone and over complimented her.

"Yes, though I think there's a little more to it than just that actually." Ai said with a mirk as she looked at her laptop and then stood up out of her chair, heading for the hallway.

"What makes you say that?" Papi asked as she hopped off the couch and began hopping behind Ai. "Where you going?

"I'm going to make breakfast, as Hito obviously will not be able to today. And as to why I think there's more to it, let's just call it a feeling in my teeth."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Coming up into the attic Kimi found herself glancing around immediately. she hadnt been in the attic much In the past, and once Rachnee came it became her room basically, so there was even less of a need to go into it, but now that situation had changed, and she couldn't help but look around at how it was now organized.

the old boxes and crates of random junk that had been In the attic before well all stacked neatly at the one side beside the stairs up, leaving the entire rest of the large attic open. A single chest sat under the attics single uncovered window, and a pair of large couches sat on either side of a small table. in the top corner, away from the light of the window, was a mass of webs that seemed to form a sort of hammock, and despite the amount of webs along the roof, they all seemed to connect over to the hammock, perhaps for added strength. Between the stairs and the couches and hammock however was a substantial amount of room, easily as much as was in the living room if it had no table or couches.

" Alright, we'll have enough room here," Rachnee said as she stopped in the middle of the room, reached up, and pulled on a single thread of silk, causing the ladder to be pulled up until the floor, the equivalent for the attic of closing the door.

Taking that as a que to get of, Kimi carefully tried to back off of Rachnee's abdomen, and when she couldn't immidiatly feel the floor, found herself fall off of Rachnee, and onto her own back with a hard thud. "Ah, ow."

"Are you alright did you hit your head?"" Rachnee suddenly said as she turned around and helped Kimi back up onto her feet, strangely still holding her once she was up.

"I'm fine, Rachnee." Kimi said as she looked at Rachnee, and found she was still holding her wrist, not hard, but her grip was strong enough that Kimi somehow knew she wasn't going to get away. "Um, Rachnee, I'm fine. You can let go now."

"Hmm, oh, ah yes. Of course." Rachnee replied as she let go of Kimi's wrist and back up a bit, turning her upper body so she was looking away from Kimi. Was she, blushing?

"Um are you okay Rachnee?" Kimi asked carefully, knowing that Rachnee didn't like getting embarrassed.

The little of her face that Kimi could see suddenly turned a bright red as she turned her entire body so she was less visible. "I-I'm fine, I just need to, um get something, then we'll begin teaching you how to walk, though we'll need to get your balance right first."

"So my balance is different again then?" Kimi asked in a slightly annoyed tone. Figuring out her centre of balance had been important when a Lamia, and when out of water it had been relatively similar while an Eel, if her balance was different again . . . .

"Yes," Rachnee said with a slight cough as he shook he head and turned around, standing tall so her entire body, including her abdomen which hung down between her legs, was visible even from the front. "Because Arachne, even small breeds have larger bodies than most Liminals our centre of balance is different, both from our size and because we are Arachne."

"So, I'm a small breed Arachne then?" Kimi asked as she tried to stand up a bit, and found herself almost fall down again, so she let her body sit back on the floor.

"Yes, well no. physically your body looks like a small breed, but your too large for one. If I had to guess, LTS tried to make you a Small breed, but couldn't condense your body size. Many Arachne have hair on their legs when their younger though, so if anyone asks we can just, um. . . "

"Just what?"

"Um, we can probably, just say that you . . . . Are my . . . . . younger sister, I guess." Rachnee said quietly, almost so quietly that she wasn't heard. Almost.

"Oh. Yeah I guess our bodies are the same color. Would hair color be a problem though?"

"Ah, no, my family's hair is normally black so it'd be fine . . . . . err, let's just get to the balance!" Rachnee suddenly panicked slightly, her face turning red before she coughed a bit and recomposed herself. "Even if our breasts are larger to match the size of our overall body, All Arachne have the same basic Centre of balance." Rachnee explained as she turned sideways and touched the centre section of her body, the section that connected her abdomen and torso, and where all of her legs came out from. This is where your centre of balance is, and because an Arachne's balance point is here, we can move our upper body and abdomen in many different directions without causing ourselves to fall over or become disoriented. for now just try to focus on that point of your body and stand up, don't push any of your weight to your upper body, and keep your upper body straight up if it helps."

Nodding and taking Rachnee's advice Kimi straightened up her body first, finding that she didn't feel unbalanced or anything, just self-conscious of her breasts sticking out as they pressed against her shirt. Lifting her body up, she could suddenly feel pressure on the bottoms of all of her legs, and then, lifted herself up. There was no teetering, no feelings of disorientation or unbalance, just her standing there. "Okay, this is weird." Kimi said after a moment as she stood there and experimentally lifted each leg individually.

"For you at the moment, I don't doubt it." Rachnee said with a smile and a snicker. "Why don't you try turning your upper body around, I think you'll find it has a surprising range of movement."

Nodding Kimi tried to twist her body. as a human the upper body could only twist so far, but surprisingly as an Arachne when she twisted her upper body, it twisted almost ninety degree's to the one side, and she found she even bend back or over enough to touch basically all of her abdomen. "Wow, I always wondered how you sat on a couch so easily. Arachne can really twist!"

"That's only a tiny amount compared to what can be done when on a web. you'll find that your upper body, and your abdomen each have a similar range of movement from each other, it gives us substantial mobility and dexterity that most don't expect because of our larger bodies."

"Yeah, this is, I feel really bendable." Kimi replied as she tried moving her upper body and abdomen, finding she could turn and twist them both to such an extent they almost touched. She could even bend her abdomen completely under her body when she stood up higher!

"Well you seem to have your balance mostly don, so let's try to see you walk."

" . . Okay, here I go then." Kimi said as she took a deep breath and tried to move, almost falling over once, twice, and then tripping sideways over her own legs. "Wah, that's a lot harder than it looks."

"It only looks feels hard because your mind is thinking of moving one side at a time. Move like this." Rachnee said as she slowly walked in front of Kimi so she could watch her her legs moved.

Staring intently at Rachnee's legs, which made a small amount of other feelings pop into Kimi's head making her blush slightly, Kimi noticed the beginnings of a pattern to their movement. "You only move two or three legs at once, and there, alternating?"

"Yes, The front pair of legs moves forward like a humans would in a sense, and the pair behind them move backwards in comparison. The same if for the other two pairs. It takes Arachne a while to learn how to walk without scratching their own legs when their young; It's why most young Arachne have hair on their legs, to help protect them when learning to walk. Why don't you give it a try?"

Nodding again Kimi took in another slow breath and then tried to move. Her balance was wobbly, and her legs visibly clicked against each other lightly as she tied to move, and nearly crossed over each other, but after a few seconds she was slowly walking forward with only slight difficulty. "okay, this feels really weird after all. All these legs are, weird."

"You seem to be doing fine so far, let's see how comfortable with walking we can get you, then maybe you'll be able to try to make dinner without help, though I can give whatever help you need of course." Rachnee said with a proud smile.

"Thank you Rachnee!" Kimi said with a smile as she twitched a leg.

Rachnee suddenly blushed. "G-Get back to walking we need you to be able to walk on your own, n-not that I'd be against carrying you I mean, err."

"What?"

"Back to practice!"

 **Authors note: Mwuahahahha it was oddly fun to write this chapter, more than usual I mean. Of course it's going to only get more interesting with Rachnee as a teacher.**

 **One person made the connection between wolf spiders and Rachnee's reaction In the last chapter, but don't worry, there is a bit more to it.**

 **Also, Ai acting like am other and scientist. *GASP* what have I done!?**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!**


	18. CH18 - Hate Times Eight - Webs and Water

Kimi opened her eyes and found her vision full of darkness, for a second she had no idea what was going on, but after a moment of thought it dawned on her, and she lifted her face off of her pillow. looking at her arms she sighed at the black coloring covering them, and then fully stood up, all of her legs being placed sturdily on the edges of her bed, and not the mattress itself, she didn't want to put a hole in it after all.

Pulling herself up and climbing carefully off her bed Kimi almost felt a sort of pride at the fact that she didn't hurt herself this time. Almost every time she had gotten up in the mornings as a liminal she ended up hurting, or simply embarrassing herself in some way, and this time she hadn't in the least. all of her legs, her arms, everything felt a little stiff and sore though, but considering she was practicing moving, and later navigating, turning and bending her body for almost the whole past day, it seemed a likely reason.

Flicking her light on, Kimi quickly pulled out a shirt and skirt and threw them both on, having slight difficulty with the skirt due to her pedipalps. She had been unable to get an explanation of what they were for out of Rachnee the previous day, so maybe she'd be more willing to explain it today.

The other thing she was going to have to ask Rachnee about, albeit more discreetly, was undergarments. she knew that Rachnee wore nothing under her top, but the way the skirt that Kimi wore fluttered about and was stretched further out at the edges made Kimi feel uncomfortable, and having to up and down stair with it that spread out was even more uncomfortable to even think about.

Shaking her head to calm her mind, Kimi quickly cleaned up her room a bit, finding that her legs must have twitched in her sleep a bit and knocked things over. Thankfully nothing had been damaged and her legs hadn't scratched up the floor. With everything put back she squeezed herself out of the door, finding her legs slightly wider than the doors width, and carefully went down the stairs to the kitchen.

Despite her discomfort the day before, Kimi's sleep had been decent and she had woken up at her usual time, and just as she expected, there was only one person in the kitchen when she went down, her mother.

"Morning Hito. You look a little less awkward than you did yesterday now." Ai greeted with a smirk, poking fun at Kimi's acceptance of her situation, or her ability to not trip, she wasn't sure which.

"Morning, is anyone else up?" Kimi replied without commenting to her mother's comment as she went into the kitchen cooking area, finding it a little tight due to her wider size as she grabbed things out of the pantry and cupboards. Despite the difficulty from her width, she found the ability to lift herself higher or lower a decent trade-off.

"Centorea went off for her morning run about half an hour ago, and I believe I heard Miia sleepily crawl into the bath just before you came down."

"Oh, Cerea should be back soon then," Rachnee stated as she came into the doorway and moved over to the table with a yawn. "Morning."

"Morning Rachnee," Kimi replied automatically as she pulled out a pan, almost dropping it as she did, "Ah, crap."

"Something wrong?"

Kimi looked to Rachnee and sort of nodded half-heartedly. "Not really, I'm just a little sore from yesterday, and I think I slept funny."

Rachnee looked at Kimi in confusion for a second before she sighed to herself. "Ah, now I know what I forgot to do. Your entire body is feeling stiff yes? Especially your legs and abdomen joints?"

"Yeah, is it from the way I slept?

"Yes, in a way, it's because of what you slept on." Rachnee said with a sigh.

"What?"

"Ah, I see." Ai giggled as she took a sip of coffee and placed her cup back down. "Arachne normally sleep on hanging beds sort of like hammocks right? Made of cloth or silk if I recall?"

"Yes, we make them ourselves, though some cover them with sheets of fabric." Rachnee replied with a soft smile.

"So, I shouldn't sleep on a bed, why?" Kimi asked as she stirred the pot she had been putting things into. It was impossible to tell what it was from the table, but the faint smell of cinnamon made it clear what it was.

" it's simple, because our legs have exoskeleton, the muscle inside has a little more difficulty resting, especially since Arachne had difficulty using anything but large couches to sit down, so were always standing on our legs. by sleeping on a hammock or something similar that it suspended, we can let out legs lay all about and hang down, allowing them to rest with the rest of our body. Your legs probably are stiff because if you were on a mattress than they were likely curled up or half resting up on the mattress."

". . . Oh, so, I won't be able to sleep in my bed then I guess." Kimi said in a depressed tone as she continued to stir the pot.

"So, what will you do?" Ai said with a smirk as she glanced between Rachnee and Kimi expectantly.

"Well . . . I suppose I could, teach you." Rachnee said uncertainly as she looked away from Kimi while she spoke, the edges of her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Teach me what? I think I've got a handle of walking pretty decently." Kimi asked ignorantly.

"Err, that is. . . I'll teach you how to spin your webs so you can make yourself a silk hammock!"

"You might want to help her with something else as well." Air said with a grin, causing both Kimi and Rachnee to look at her in confusion, just before everyone else began filing into the kitchen.

Breakfast quickly went into full drive, and the prior conversations were left in the dust. Miia and Papi made a ruckus over the oatmeal that Kimi had prepared for everyone, but such a thing was common, and breakfast was quickly finished. As Kimi began grabbing plates though, Ai stood up and snatched them away from her briskly with a smile. "I'll deal with the dishes', you go back with Rachnera, she still has more to tell you yes?"

"Ah, um, I'll meet you upstairs!" Rachnee said suddenly as she excused herself form the table, and half climbed up the wall to go around everyone and get out as fast as possible.

"What is up with her?" Miia asked in confusion as Ai simply contained a giggle.

"You should probably go after Miss Rachnera beloved!" Mero added with a smile.

Looking at Mero and then back to Ai, Kimi let out a sigh and then, far slower and without crawling up the wall, left the room and headed upstairs. She unconsciously made sure no one followed her, and once she was up at the ladder to the attic she looked up and couldn't hear anything. "Rachnee, are you up there?"

"Y-yes, you can come up, j-just close the door behind you!" came Rachnee's replied, hurried and surprised in its tone it almost sounded like she hadn't been expecting Kimi, or had her mind on something else.

Climbing up into the attic, while holding her skirt down and moving very slowly, Kimi came up and closed the door. Only then when she turned around, did she see the state of the attic. The webs that normally hung from every rafter and angle were gone, the floor was tidy, and the couches were pushed against the wall beneath Rachnee's silk hammock, the only thing of silk in the entire room. It made the room feel almost empty, and in the center of it all, Rachnee was standing, looking thoroughly unsure and nervous.

"Um, are- are you sure you want to learn this? I could just, make you your own hammock, now that I think about it, does that sound good instead?"

". . . What? Why? Didn't you say that I needed to-"

"Err, no that's not it I just was thinking if it's too much. . . . . . ugh never mind." Rachnee said with a sigh as she walked over to the couch on the wall and pointed to it. "Get on and point your abdomen to me."

"Um, okay, I thought we were going to-"Kimi began to say as she climbed onto the couch with her back facing Rachnee and tried to get comfortable. She still hadn't gotten the hand of twisting her joins as much as Rachnee could though, so it wasn't perfect.

"We are, but the first time spinning web is, complicated and. . . Not something to do out in the open." Rachnee said nervously, her face bright red as she placed one of her hands on Kimi's abdomen. "C-can you feel my hand?"

"Um, a little bit, but it's kind of, hard I guess?"

"How about now?" Rachnee asked again as she pressed down a little harder on Kimi's abdomen, using her whole open hand to do so.

"Um, yes, I can."

Taking her hand off Kimi's abdomen Rachnee took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled before speaking, causing Kimi to tense up slightly. "Okay, before we begin, what do you know about spider silk?"

"It's light and strong for its size and spiders use it to catch prey and make webs?"

"So you know the basics of what most people do, okay." Rachnee said with another sigh as she walked around the couch and faced her right side to Kimi, turning her abdomen and upper body so they were curved toward Kimi. "Arachne silk is produced similarly to spider silk, but the main difference is that unlike how some spiders can only make one or two kinds of silk, Arachne can produce all kinds of silk, and it is done in here," Rachnee explained as she touched her abdomen, specifically the back section of it.

"That's were all spiders make silk right?" Kimi asked confusingly.

"Yes and no, depending on the species of spider yes, but some spiders, and all Arachne, have some of our organs down in our abdomen as well."

"Okay, but, what does that have to do with silk?"

"It has to do with how it is made." Rachnee said as she turned fully to Kimi, and seemed to nervously hold back for a second before walking back to Kimi's abdomen." unlike spiders that begin using their silk spinnerets immediately, Arachne do not for their first years if life and only learn how to when they hit their second growth period, about their early to mid-teens in compare to humans. Because of that, the spinnerets and silk forms inside the abdomen are unused until then, and can become, inert."

"Inert?"

"Yes, inactive basically. To activate the spinnerets inside the abdomen, they must be activated, and considering you do not know where they are or how they feel, activating them will also tell you how they feel and where they are." Rachnee said as she put a hand above and below Kimi's abdomen, and then pressed a spot on the underside of Kimi's abdomen, to surprising effect.

"What are you- Hiiiii! Haaa, what- what is- Aahh!" Kimi cried out in surprise and horror as a strange feeling flashed through her body from her abdomen. It felt like someone was very gently touching parts of her body, but at the same time like sparks and bolt of feelings that did not die down. It was surprising and weird at first, but after a second it almost felt, good?

"This is where one of your spinnerets are, the other two of the first group are here across from it, and up above." Rachnee stated as she embarrassingly pressed on the places she mentioned, causing shivers to arc and race through Kimi's body.

"G-group what do you mean by- Eehhhh- g-group? a-and why does it, feel so . . . odd?"

"Yes. Arachne have Six silk spinnerets inside their abdomens, and the six are grouped into two interlocking trio's, organized like a hexagon. One group creates silk that is sticky, while the bother trio creates silk that is not, though it is stronger. By having three spinnerets that can work together to spin the silk, we can control the density of it easily, as well as how sticky, or pliable it is."

"B- But why, is it feeling like this!?" Kimi nearly moaned out, unable to suppress the massive spikes of feelings that were coming from her abdomen. It was quiet unlike anything else she had experienced, and it was making her feel like she was losing her mind.

"That is because of what is being done. Because your silk spinners have never been used, they have never been stimulated. What I'm doing is stimulating them from the outside very carefully to make them active. It's um, part of the reason this isn't done in public or many places at all actually. The pleasure is only felt this once, unless an Arachne, um, uses their spinneret hole for something other than spinning silk; and the feelings should subside in a moment. I'm done now." Rachnee said as she let go of Kimi's abdomen, having activated all of the spinnerets inside her abdomen.

Rachnee was thoroughly embarrassed it seemed, but Kimi was in no shape to take note of it. She was lying face down on the couch, sprawled out in strange angles. Her legs seemed to twitch every few seconds, and she was panting heavily, her face a bright red. To make matters worse, as she tried to get up she suddenly pulled her hands under her body and became even redder in the face.

For a second Rachnee wasn't sure why, her reactions were mostly normal after all. Then she noticed the couch and felt her own face become red with embedment. "Oh my, you, you weren't-"Rachnee let her words hang in the air, unable to continue them.

"I, um, my own wouldn't fit . . .and- I couldn't bring myself with Miia's, and Mero. . . doesn't-" Kimi stopped there, thoroughly embarrassed as she picked herself up and climbed off the couch awkwardly, keeping her skirt close against her body with her hands. Her abdomen twitched slightly as she moved, but she seemed to mostly be in control of her body again, the spasms having receded.

For many minutes the room was quiet as Rachnee pulled out a towel and placed it on the couch, then pulled the other couch out from the wall, along with a large bean bag chain and sat on it, leaving the other second couch for Kimi. She seemed hesitant, but climbed on, again keeping her skirt in check with her own hands.

"Um, perhaps before I show you how to make a hammock, I should show you how to, sew up some clothing?" Rachnee said, her tone making it more of a question than a statement.

"You, can do that? I mean, I assumed, but, I've never heard anything about it."

"Our silk is still silk. All of my clothing is made of silk as well." Rachnee said almost proudly as she twisted her body a bit so that her abdomen's end was close to her side. Half a second later some silk seemed to slowly come out of her abdomen, which she quickly grabbed and, carefully, pulled out and bundled under one arm like it was thin white rope. "Why don't you try to spin some, just, try to compress your spinnerets, slowly."

Kimi nodded and twisted her body so that her abdomen was closer to her like Rachnee's was, and then carefully tried. It was strange trying to effect an organ that was completely different than just a new set of legs, bit after a few seconds there was a small result. A small glob of silk came out, sticky and covered in a strange clear liquid. it was disgusting looking, completely different than Rachnee's, but when she tried again, an extremely thick rope of dry silk came out instead, completely different than before, bright white with a silky shine.

"See, it isn't hard once you start." Rachnee said with a smile.

"Y-yeah, it feels weird though. If your clothing is made of silk though, why isn't it white? Did you dye it somehow?

"Yeah, I can show you how later, but first, why don't we get done the basics of clothing first." Rachnee said with a smile as she pulled out a book and two pairs of thin metal needles that looked they had been pulled out of a massage therapy office. "You know how to sew already right?"

"Yes."

"Then you should get a hang of this quickly." Rachnee said as she opened the book to Kimi. Basically, we use our absolute thinnest silk for clothing. We start with sticky silk as a base and-

by the end of the hour Kimi had created an article of clothing, and by the day's end, had nearly mastered it, neither of them realizing the time until Ai came up to tell Kimi she was heading to sleep.


	19. CH19 - Hate Times Eight - mugged outing

Kimi glared down at the floor as she lay suspended above it, just off to the side of her bed in her own room. The hammock she had made was simple but even more effective that Rachnee had suggested it would be the previous night, so much so she didn't even remember getting into it and trying to sleep, she just simply fell asleep. There was one problem tough. Lying on the hammock made her entire body feel weightless and as if all the stress was draining out of her, and along with it, her intent on actually getting up seemed to be trickling away as well.

The hammock was making her lazy, or being an Arachne was, she wasn't sure which it was. Whichever reason it was though was posing a problem, because her clock on the far side of the room was flashing, the alarms having long gone off on its own. It read 9:36, and the longer she stared at it the less inclined she felt to get up. Was Rachnee's sleepiness due to her species, not some personality trait?

Lifting her body up in the hammock Kimi felt the desire to lay back down increase, and felt there was only one option, and it didn't impress her. Lifting an arm to the upper section of the hammock she took the silk in between her two fingers, and just like Rachnee had explained, closed her fingers together like a pair of scissors, cutting the silk. The hammocks one side tumble down, with Kimi on it just before she tumbled off it. Thankfully, because the hammock had been slightly over her bed, she tumbled onto it, making a minimal amount of noise, and stopping her from needing to land the fall. Climbing off her bed and getting dressed, Kimi lazily crawled out of her room with a yawn despite the time, and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Rachnee was sitting in the kitchen with Lala in the kitchen cooking area, doing something that did not sound like cooking. As she looked up and saw Kimi, Rachnee smiled, showing off her teeth as she did. "Your mother went out to do some shopping, and rather forcibly took along Centorea, Miia and Mero with her. she left you a note as well."

Kimi nodded and looked at the table, and there was a note, but it had only one short message.

 _Hito_

 _You and Rachnera should go out into the town for a while and stretch your legs, being cooped up inside is not healthy. Also, can you hit the bedding store and order some winter weight sheets, with everyone in the house we won't have enough when winter hits._

 _Mom._

"Fun," Kimi said with another yawn. She wasn't normally this tired in the mornings; maybe being sleepy really was an Arachne thing.

"Hmm, is she asking something strange?" Rachnee asked with a smile as she held both her hand underneath her head.

"Kind of; She wants me and you to go get some exercise, and to go and order something for her while we're out." Kimi replied.

"Oh . . . . . I'm not fully sure you're ready, but if we're being asked, it wouldn't be right to ignore her request." Rachnee said, her smile having disappeared.

"What do you mean ready?" Kimi asked as she walked into the kitchen to see that Lala appeared to be making a sauce, and that a slab of meat was sitting in a bowl nearby, probably waiting to be marinated.

"The stares of the unworthy shall cause hate and fear after the discomfort of the soul. Terror will be gained as innocence is lost, and the mind shall be clear." Lala muttered to herself as she stirred, though she was easily heard by both Rachnee and Kimi a she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Not how I would put it, but that is mostly correct." Rachnee said with a sigh as she stood up, are we going to leave then, or are you grabbing something to eat first?"

"No I can get something in town. Oh, are you fine here with Papi and Suu, Lala?"

Lala simply nodded through her scarf as she began pouring the marinade over the meat expertly. It did make Kimi wonder if Lala really knew how to cook, but that could wait for dinner to find out.

"Alright then, I guess we'll be off then." Rachnee said as she began walking out of the kitchen.

"Ah, one second let me get my wallet and those 2 passes." Kimi said as she quickly scuttled past Rachnee and up to her room, then back down. Within minutes the two of them were out the doors, leaving the house, and the watching of Papi and Suu to Lala's hopefully capable hands.

The weather outside was warm and sunny, with a barely warm breeze that helped keep the heat off, and the streets were calm and barely used at this time, making it quiet except for the occasional car or truck that rolled down the street.

Kimi had no idea why the note from her mom said to go out with Rachnee. She thought it was maybe to spark conversation or something similar, but Kimi simply couldn't figure out anything to say at the moment. She had only just woken up a bit ago, and the entire day before had been spent with rachnee learning and asking questions. Luckily, Rachnee made the point moot, by speaking first.

"It really is a nice day for a walk; I should probably get outside more often before winter comes."

"you don't do well with the cold huh?" Kimi stated, recalling their trip to the onsen, where Rachnee, Miia and Mero nearly froze outside after only a couple of minutes.

"No, not really, Arachne are more temperate to tropical, as heat doesn't do much to us depending on what you're used to." Rachnee explained as they continued to walk, after a few moments she glanced around at the streets and frowned. "So where is this place that your mother wants you to make an order at?"

"oh, it's a bedding store that she's used for as long as I can remember. I think mom bought her and dads bed, as well and mine there. It's just off the city centre, so about an hour's walk away. We can hit a café on the way if you like."

Rachnnee seemed to scowl slightly before her expression brightened up. "If we're going to be walking for an hour, then that might be an idea."

"Okay, the café isn't that far, and it's liminal friendly, so it should be good." Kimi exclaimed. Unfortunately for her, their conversation died there, and an ugly and cold silence was all that was in the air until they got to the café, ordered, and sat down while awaiting their orders. The cafe even pulled out some large chairs that could fit their abdomens!

"This is a really nice Café, is this the one that Miia said you took your mother too?" Rachnee asked as the serving girl walked off with their orders.

"Yes and the one I went to with Miia. The only problem is that the Café across the street isn't liminal friendly, and when there are people on their patio, they often seem to glare." Kimi said, noticing that the café across the street in question was closed today. There was a sign beside the door, probably explaining why, but she couldn't tell at this distance.

"I see, we should all come sometime, if the food is so good you and Ai keep coming, then everyone would likely enjoy it."

"Ah, thank you." Kimi said as the serve came over and placed two smoothies, a strawberry and mango one, on the table with a smile before Kimi turned back to Rachnee. "Yeah, we'll just need to find a time to do it."

"True, the fact that you keep jumping species doesn't help the matter either." Rachnee agreed with a smile.

"Yeah, and mom coming back didn't help either, I honestly thought she didn't know about what was going on."

"It did seem like that, but tell me, your mother is vampire, but your father is human, what does he do though?"

"I thought mom mentioned it to everyone?"

"She did I believe, but I think I was half asleep, I don't recall, besides, it doesn't hurt to tell me and make some conversation while we drink, no?" Rachnee asked as she sipped some of her smoothie.

"True. Dad works as a Diplomat, specifically a Diplomat that acts between Japan and various Liminal groups. I think he was with the first groups that made the agreements between the first liminal groups, and he was partly behind the specifics of the cross species exchange act I think."

"Oh? So a mother who's a liminal, and a biologist, and a father who's a diplomat, that is very interesting. It's no wonder you are so welcoming."

"Um, thanks?" Kimi said uncertainly as she finished her smoothie and took out the payment for them, placing in the table as she stood up, just as Rachnee finished and stood up with her. "Payments on the table!"

"Is that really a good idea?" Rachnee asked as the two of them walked off the patio and back onto the street.

"It's fine, they've always allowed people to do that. If anyone doesn't pay enough they mark it down and catch them the next time they come." Kimi replied as the two of them walked down the street.

The rest of the walk was filled with simple chatter, and because of the trip to the café, it was almost noon when they got to the bedding store, a good sized single story building, tucked between an office tower, car dealership.

Stepping inside the store Rachnee immediately began thinking that the store only catered to humans, but within seconds a young kobold came over and greeted them. "Good day to you, do you need any help with anything perhaps?" the kobold asked pleasantly.

"No, I'm just here to place an order, so we'll head down to the service desk, thank you." Kimi said with a smile.

"oh, so you know where you are going then? Have you been here before? I don't quiet recognize you and have worked here for almost two years now."

"I have, but . . . um, let's just say it's complicated and leave it at that."

"Very well," The kobold said with a nod. "If there is anything you need help with, simply ask for anyone."

". . . he seemed awfully nice, I thought this was just for human linens though, so that was a little, unexpected." Rachnee said as she followed Kimi past dozens of display beds, of extremely varying sizes.

"I think it used to be, but for the last couple of years they've provided all sorts of sizes for bedding." Kimi said with a shrug as she walked up to the counter and began speaking to the person behind it.

Not wanting to listen in, and having no interest in bedding, Rachnee stretched her arms above her head and glanced around. The store was mostly quiet, with only a couple of people, customers and workers, walking casually around. There were literally beds of almost every possible size and shape all over that Rachnee could see. Beds that were fit for humans, and even beds up to three times the size, obviously meant for larger Liminals. Among the beds were dozens of types of sheets and bedding, and the more she looked the more she realized that even some of the bedding was specialized for specific species, something she had never heard of before.

"Something wrong?"

Rachnee jumped slightly at hearing Kimi's voice, and realizing she was now standing right in front of her, looking at her with a slight expression of worry on her face. "N-no, I was just thinking, that's all, is everything done already?"

"Yeah, I think my mom did something, because it was oddly simple, more so than normal. What were you thinking about? Was it related to the way you've been acting since I turned into an Arachne?" Kimi asked, casing Rachnee to look at her in utter disbelief and embarrassment.

"S-so you noticed. Um, how did you-"

"You're normally a lot more collected, and you don't get embarrassed so easily unless someone does soothing like praise you excessively, but you've gotten embarrassed a lot The last few days, mostly around me. Is there something about Arachne I need to know?"

"That's not . . . Ugh, it's not that, it's something of my own." Rachnee admitted as she looked away from Kimi, her face turning a bit red from her obvious embarrassment at the subject being brought up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kimi asked earnestly.

Rachnee looked at Kimi, her face turning redder than before as she glanced around, making sure no one was nearby or watching them. Thankfully the store was large and there were few people, no one was nearby. "I should honestly, before I, become unable to hold back." Rachnee finally said, surprising Kimi with her words.

"Hold back?"

Rachnee nodded as she looked to Kimi. "Arachne families are often large, and twins are common. Older children often will help their parent take care of and teach their younger siblings. It's a very familial and personal thing, especially because of the many preconceptions about us. I was the youngest of my family, and most of my older siblings had left home when I was growing up. I always wondered what it was like for them, or what it would be like to, to take care of a, a younger sister myself." Rachnee said, her voice quick as she did her best to not look at Kimi at all, and failed.

". . . So, when you were acting strange around me, it was because, you were holding back on acting like I was a younger sister to you?"

Rachnee simply nodded as she was visibly keeping her lips shut tight and her gaze as far to one side as possible.

"Well, that's okay, right?" Kimi said after a moment, causing Rachnee to turn to her with a completely baffled expression, something she didn't show often.

"W-what!? How is it okay, it's not right, it's embarrassing and- and-"

"And it won't be for long anyway really." Kimi suddenly interrupted with a soft smile. " you're always taking care of everyone from the shows, and almost everyone, including myself, calls you Rachnee anyway, so that probably didn't help."

"B-but that's not. . . . It's not, I couldn't, it wouldn't be. . . . . fair."

"Fair?" Kimi asked in surprise at Racine's words.

"No one else can get what they truly want so easily, so, why should-"

"It's not like you're asking for marriage papers." Kimi said with a slight shiver. "And since I am an Arachne right now, and I do kind of look related, why not. We don't have to do it at home unless you want to, we just jut act like it on the way back or-"

"Fine." Rachnee muttered under her breath, barely audible.

"Um, which one?"

"F-for the day, I guess," Rachnee said as she broke down and let a large smile cover her face. Kimi hadn't seen Rachnee smile so beautifully since she was last extremely embarrassed, but this was different, more open.

"T-then, since we've done what we came here to do, shall we get going, S-sis?" Kimi said uncertainty. She had proposed the idea, but hadn't really thought about it in passing, so now following through on it was, strange, to say the least.

Hearing that single word uttered to her, Rachnee' face turned bright red, she began muttering to herself in ecstatic tones for a second and then seemed to calm down and look to Kimi with a smile. "Okay, let's head home!"

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Kimi had figured everything had been going well, she and Rachnee had gone to the store, done the order, and now they were sort of acting a little more intimate as, not real, sisters and Rachnee seemed to become much calmer and happier.

Then they left the bedding store and headed down the street and thing went from great too horrible in a matter of seconds.

Coming out back onto the street Kimi found I filled with many more people that before, the time having become around noon. She figured most of them were people who worked in the city centre and were looking for lunch or meeting people and that it would be no problem. That was not the case though, and she quickly noticed people on their own sidewalk giving them a wide birth, and many people glaring at them with unsightly expressions, outright fear, and even disgust. These glares didn't go away as they moved down the street, and no matter which way Kimi looked, she found people giving them the glares.

"Th-this is a bit . . . . Is there something following us or is it . . . " Kimi said carefully, not to be too loud.

"No, it's just US. Rachnee said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Most humans are not as, welcoming as you are, and while some people are not openly hostile, most humans look at Arachne with disgust or fear."

"I-it's wrong, it doesn't make sense." Kimi said as she walked down the street beside Rachnee, having no trouble keeping her quickened pace. "As a Lamia some people looked with, I don't know, mistrust I guess, and as a mermaid there was nothing like this. Why is it so different?"

"That's how humans are. Because most humans don't like spiders, they don't like Arachne either, and have nothing against openly showing it. Thankfully most are fine with keeping their distance and just giving us the glared of disgust."

"Hey, what do you monsters think you're doing in our town!" A man said as he and another, both wearing heavy slacks and sleeveless shirts stepped up in front of Rachnee and Kimi.

"Yeah, this is a nice town, it doesn't need monsters like you here!" The other man added with a smirk as both of them began chuckling to themselves.

"Unless we end up meeting thugs like this," Rachnee said with a sigh, doing nothing to lower her voice or keep it hidden.

"EH? You think you can call, good, respectful citizens like us, thugs!"

"Yeah, we're just keeping the streets clean of vermin like you, so you better bugger off before we need to get nasty. Unless, you want to ,bribe us away somehow?"

"Oh, there doing that then." Kimi said in realization as to what the thugs were after. "Should we call for help or . . . . ?" Kimi asked to Rachnee, keeping her voie down a bit.

"No, there's no point," Rachnee replied to Kimi as she then began moving forward. "Excuse us, we're leaving."

" Whoa there," one thug called as he pulled out a knife and stepped directly in front of Rachnee, " We didn't say you could leave, we have to clean up your presence here, and that can only be done with the right, payment."

"Agreed, but if you can't provide, I suppose we could go after this other one here," The other thig said as he waked around them toward Kimi and drew a knife as well, a vile grin covering his face. "This is your sister right? You wouldn't want us to have to make her give us payment, would you?"

At this Rachnee's expression changed from annoyance, to complete anger, and slowly turned her head to Kimi. "I spoke with Ai a few days ago, as they are threatening us, we won't be liable for self-defence, and our carapace won't be hurt by a measly knife."

"Wait, what? Are going to-"Kimi began to say, but was interrupted as she spoke by the thugs.

"HUH, you think you can scare us with that crap?" one thug said.

"yeah, the law makes you unable to touch us, and if you don't give us what we want, we might just lodge these knives in those nice soft looking parts of your body while we check out just how soft they are!" the other thug added, licking his lips in anticipation as he eyed Kimi, and Rachnee's chests, his cheeks flushing.

Hearing these words, and seeing her body looked at in such a way caused a shiver to rush across Kimi's body as she took an apprehensive step back. Rachnee on the other hand, was having none of this, and had reached the limit of what her patience would allow. "Enough already; get out of our way or I'll snap those little knives of yours!"

"Oh yeah? Just try it, bitch monster!" The one thug roared as he lunged toward Rachnee with the knife in hand, thrusting it forward towards her. With only a sigh and a scowl Rachnee grabbed the blade in her and twisted her wrist, snapping the blade into pieces, and before the man could even notice it, she then threw her front legs forward, catching the man in the chest and sending him flying backwards onto the sidewalk.

The other thug moved toward kimi, who leapt backwards uncertainly, forcing him to move further forward, and unbalancing himself as he almost tripped over the sidewalk. As he almost tripped, Kimi threw up a closed fist, and caught him on the jaw sending him sideways onto the sidewalk. his face was bleeding slightly, his skin having been scrapped by Kimi's carapace covered fist, and he was clearly to stunned to move, but otherwise unhurt.

"That was, they weren't much huh?" Kimi said as she caught her breath slightly, being surprised at how quickly they had angered, and fallen down.

"Having natural armour helps." Rachnee said with a smirk as she stepped over the man she had knocked down and led Kimi down the sidewalk, at a quickened pace.

"I suppose but, are we being looked at differently now?" Kimi asked as she looked around and saw people whispering and muttering to themselves, and even some people pulling out phones.

"Yes, unfortunately the onlooker may have only seen what happened, not heard what those men said," Rachnee said grimly, as a pair of police officer ran across the street toward them, looking very stern. one ran over to the two thugs behind them ,while the other ran in front of them, looking uncertain.

"Excuse me, um, ladies," He began, his voice trembling slightly. "I'm going to have to see your outing permits, and I'll have to ask you to come with me."

"Why?" Rachnee asked simply, eyeing the officer with distrust.

"You attacked those men, so we have to question you as to why, and contact your homestay to-"

"They came up to us and attempted to mug us for money." Kimi suddenly spoke up, rather loudly.

"I'm sorry, but considering this is a situation with extra species, we have to do this at the station, even if that is true, we have to hear both sides of the story." The officer said as he swallowed, clearly surprised by Kimi's quick explanation of what supposedly happened.

"Fine then, I'll call my mu- . . . our homestay now then." Kimi said in annoyance as she pulled out her phone and began dialing.

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Ai closed the door to her room, and hr husbands technically but he wasn't around at the moment, and quickly undressed, tossing her clothing into a hamper in the corner. Her and her husband's room was not huge, but thankfully it had never been touched during the houses various renovations. A small mercy that she was barely able to even consider at the moment.

Dropping her phone onto the bedside table and herself onto her bed in literally nothing she sighed and let her exhaustion slowly seep out. Getting a call from the police had been unexpected, and when she found out what the reason was she ended up spending almost three hours arguing with police officers over the readings of various laws. Finally after having in been forced to contact Kuroro, and getting Zombina instead because kuroko was apparently unable to speak, she was able to get the message across to the police, and finally was allowed to get Rachnee and Hito out of there. It was ridiculous that they were almost charged with assault for self-defence, but the laws were still young, and had problems.

"Uh, i just want to sleep now," she muttered, just before her phone began vibrating on the table for a bit, telling her she had mail. Picking up her phone and glancing at the mail her face paled at its title. "Oh that's bad."

To: Ai Kurusu

Subject: Third LTS Strain has popped up. ( no you're not being called back yet.)

 **Authors note: hehehehe, another fun chapter, I hope you all find it as fun as I did writing it. I'm sure people are curious about the third strain, but here's another question as well.**

 **Are you curious about why Mrs. Smith couldn't answer the phone? I may make that a little special chapter if people want (it'd be a smallish one).**

 **either way I hope everyone liked it, and is looking forward to what is to come.**


	20. Special - Kuroko's Conundrum - 1

**Authors note: and considering people replies, it seems people definitely want to see Kuroko's problems, so I'll do her situation with LTS as a series of special chapters. Because I can.**

 **Enjoy!**

Kuroko smith scowled as she stepped out of the bathroom in her apartment. She had just gotten back from delivering LTS data to researchers, found another homestay for a rather Tsundere Hydra, and had wanted to rest for even just a day. Unfortunately for her, life seemed to have a certain way of not just denying her this simple pleasure, but mocking her in every sense imaginable.

LTS Apparently ended up forming a new, third strain, but that was not the worst of her problems. Her own real problem was the first strain, or maybe the second, she wasn't sure.

"Hey smith you ready?" Came Zombina's voice from the other side of the door to her room. All of Mon shared an Apartment with her, both because she was both their boss and coordinator, but also because it allowed her to keep a close watch on hem to make sure they didn't break any rules. They technically were not homestays, and did have legal residencies alongside their original ones, but as they all worked at the same place, it also allowed them to travel to work as one group, and save gas. For the most part Kuroko didn't mind it as all of them were good people, but sometimes, it was a little tiring, maybe as tiring as what Kimihito Kurusu was going through. Maybe, but probably not, he didn't have paperwork to do.

"I'll be out in a few minutes ny-"Kuroko stopped herself by throwing a hand over hr mouth. Since she woke up she had found her, situation, to be a little more than just a physical one. It was very slowly effecting the way she spoke, and she was sure it would alter her personality slightly just as it did for each person who had become afflicted with LTS.

" Ny? What's Ny mean?" Zombina questioned from the other side, sounding very confused.

"I'll be out in a minute, Ny-" Kuroko stopped herself again as she crossed her room and began taking off her sleepwear.

"Okay, we're all ready and have had breakfast already; do you want us to make you something?" Zombina asked.

" Yes please, just some toast and an egg; but have Tio or Manako make it, thank you," Kuroko replied as she slipped her leggings on then reached for her skirt, remembering the last time Zombina tried to cook and ended up frying an egg in formaldehyde.

"Okay, Manako, Smith wants you to-" Zombina called as she probably walked away from the door, her voice trailing off and leaving Kuroko in her room with her situation.

because of the alterations to her body, her skirt was fitting lower on her hips than she'd like, her legs were slightly more stretched because of the same reason, and she was finding it more difficult to comb her hair, though she did manage. Buttoning up her sir and grabbing her jacket off a chair she stopped at hr own door and hesitated to open it.

She knew that Tio, Zombina, Manako and Doppel would not think lesser of her in her current condition. They'd make fun of her sure, and possibly even attempt to embarrass her more than likely, so why was she so hesitant?

Then she remembered. The closest person who knew anything about LTS was Ai Kurusu. That's why she was hesitant. If Ai found out about it, she would no doubt rub it in her face for months, even more so if it was the second strain she had caught. Even worse, she might even grab her for some experiments. Normally Ai was completely trustworthy, but if she found out. . . . Kuroko didn't want to think about it.

"I- I just need to make sure she doesn't find out, yeah, that's what I'll do." Kuroko said with a nod as she gripped the handle of her door, grabbed her jacket and walked out into the apartment's main kitchen and living room.

Kuroko and MON's apartment had large bedrooms for the most part, but the central living area of the apartment was huge by compare. The living room alone was easily the size of mid-sized house, and held both a massive TV, couches, a dining table and other similar things under it's nearly fifteen foot high vaulted ceiling. The kitchen was beside the front door area oddly enough, but almost directly outside of her room and into the living area; she found Zombina and Doppel sitting on a couch while Tio and Manako appeared to be in the kitchen.

"Hey what took you Smith, normally you're-" Zombina began to say, until she saw Smith and nearly froze with surprise.

"Whoa, you trying to make a joke or something?" Doppel asked as Tio and Manako came out of the kitchen with a plate of food, and expressions just as surprised as Zombina's.

"Sadly not," Kuroko said with a sigh as she brushed hand across her head and the two perky black cat ears that stuck up off her head. before they could comment, the thin black cat's tail that was now attached just above her butt swayed about anxiously, showing off her inner emotions that her face did not as she explained the situation to them. "I seem to have contracted LTS, Nyaa, and have been turned into a Nekomimi. Hopefully it's just the first strain and it will go away in a few days, Nyaa."

All of them blinked at Kuroko for a moment, before Manako spoke up. "um, you're going Nyaa, in you sentences."

"I know, Nyaa. I can't help it." Kuroko said with a sigh as her tail swayed about incessantly, even curling around one of her thighs awkwardly.

"Wow, I can't wait till everyone hears about-"Doppel began to say.

"You will, not tell anyone outside of the government about this, do you understand!?" Kuroko said very sternly, her tail turning to a straight spike, with its hair standing on end.

"Ugh, affirmative." Doppel said unsurely as she leaned back, surprised at how serious Smith was about it.

"Good . . . . Is that my breakfast, Nyaa?" Kuroko asked as she noticed the small plate that Manako was carrying, which had a piece of toast and a well fried egg on it.

"Um, y-yes it is. I hope it's alright." Manako said shyly as she passed Kuroko the plate. It was barely in Kuroko's hands a second before she slipped the egg up with two finger and tossed it into her mouth, almost eating the whole thing in one go. All the while, her tail began waving about happily.

"Yes, it's very good, Nyaa. Thank you Manako."" Kuroko said as she quickly tore into the toast and began walking to the door. "Alright, let's get going, Nyaa."

"Um, Mrs. Smith. You have whiskers now, can I touch them?" Tio asked earnestly, apparently having a liking for cats. Kuroko was having none of this however.

"We're leaving, Nyow!"


	21. CH20 - Leg limitations - Balancing act

**Authors note: alright, leaving the rest of kuroko's catty situation to later, let's continue, onto the third LTS strain. Get ready; it may not be what you expect!**

 **PS: surprised no one questioned about the apparently Tsundere Hydra in the last chapter. Kind of sad now.** **(not really.)**

Kimihito had expected to wake up lying on a hammock, as a female, and an Arachne. So when he woke up to find himself in none of those, it was surprising to say the least. Instead of being on the hammock that he had made of silk from when he was an Arachne, he was hanging inside it, all the silk threads having become tangled around his body. The one end of the hammock, the end he had cut the previous morning, had come loose, leaving the other still intact to the wall. This meant not only was he tangled in it; his head was facing toward the floor, with his feet tangled above him. It was far from comfortable, and the fact that he had went to sleep wearing nothing made it even less comfortable.

the simple fact that he had tuned back to being human after only three days of being an Arachne was strange; considering all the other transformations had lasted longer, almost to a week, but the current situation was more important that thinking about that. If someone came into his room they would be greeted by something he didn't want to show, so immediately Kimihito began squirming in the silk bonds.

slowly he managed to get an d arm free, the silk not giving at all when he tried to stretch it, so instead he opted for squirming out, and once he got his second arm out he was able to slowly, and carefully g=begin moving strands of silk off his shoulders. After the fifth strand he felt himself sink lower toward the floor, and then, without any warning, one of the silk strands either slipped or snapped and Kimihito found his face greeting the floor in the most ungraceful way possible.

The suddenness of it stunned him, but he has not been very high off the floor, so there wasn't much pain, but he had to move fast, just in case someone came to check on him, or the noise. Quickly scampering up Kimihito moved over to his door, locked it, and then went about getting dressed. It felt oddly good to actually where his own clothing again, and while him had between each transformation, it just felt good to wear clothing not made of silk.

Glancing around to make sure that nothing in his room got damaged or something during his fall, and finding that to be the case, Kimihito nodded to himself and left his room ready to greet the morning. The exact opposite of how it had been while an Arachne.

The house was quiet as he went downstairs, and even his mother was not in the kitchen, leaving him to start breakfast in calm silence, the way it was meant to be started. Considering that his mom had been shopping the day before, and had taken Miia, Mero and Cerea with her, the fridge, freezer and pantry well full and organized as he liked, telling him that his mom still liked it when he cooked more than when she did.

The smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon quickly began filling the kitchen, and bare minutes after he had begun cooking Lala walked into the kitchen and looked around before sitting down.

"Ye have returned to the true form." Lala said after a few minutes of listening to bacon sizzle, a simple, yet understandable pleasure.

"Yeah, I'm surprised by it too. Three days is short compared to how long I was a Lamia." Kimihito said with a small shrug as he began flipping pancakes.

" . . . . Ye're soul wanes and waxes like the moon. Ye be Still under the curse." Lala said calmly as she sat at the table, seemingly emotionlessly, but Kimihito could see her taking deep breaths of the smell of bacon.

Kimihito looked at Lala for a moment, dumbfounded. "Y-you can tell if I'm still affected by LTS?"

Lala nodded as she got up, came into the kitchen and began pouring herself a class of juice.

"That's, interesting." Kimihito muttered as he looked at Lala, when an idea suddenly crept into his head. "Do you want to help me make breakfast?"

Lala suddenly coughed into her cup of juice as she drank, and was so surprised by her own cough, that her head went back a bit, and would have fallen right off if she hadn't grabbed it with her free hand and carefully pushed it back on. After a second she turned to Kimihito, blushing slightly, and looking very confused. "W-why? Why would ye-?"

" Well you were making food yesterday and it turned out pretty good, so I figured you might want to help out a bit, if you want to I mean." Kimihito replied as he continued to flip pancakes.

Lala seemed conflicted for a moment before she set her glass down on the counter and composed herself back to her norm. "w-what do ye wish me to do then?"

"Well I can only do so much at once with how many we need to cook for, could you watch and put on some more bacon and cook it up?"

"I will do this." Lala stated simple as she walked past Kimihito and pulled some more bacon out of the fridge, taking it off in strips and placing them carefully in their pan as she simultaneously pulled others off with a pair of tongs and set them on some paper towel. At first she seemed to be very rigid and uncertain about what she was doing, but Kimihito quickly realized it want that she was uncertain, but that she had to keep her torso straight or her head could come off without her meaning it to, and over hot oil, that would be catastrophic.

Kimihito figure Lala had basic knowledge of cooking, but as she cooked it quickly became apparent that her skills were not just basic, as she appeared to expertly move things about, not getting anything on herself or breaking any piece of bacon. With the two of them together everything came together quickly, and everyone else began filtering into the kitchen. First Cerea and Mero, then Papi, Suu, and Miia, who began complain about not being able to cook with her darling. Everyone else silenced her with words and reactions that she'd turn simple scrambled eggs into a movie monster though.

"I do not see Lady Rachnera or your mother Beloved." Mero spoke up as Lala and Kimihito began passing plates of food onto the table.

"Their probably both sleeping in." Miia said nonchalantly as she grabbed a plate nod quickly downed the bacon so fast one might think she didn't even swallow it.

"That does sound likely." Cerea agreed, a moment too soon.

"Hito, can you get an open chair right near the kitchen entrance ready!" Came Ai's voice from down the hall, sounding slightly off, like she was carrying something heavy.

"Okay, is something wrong? Did you hurt your ankle or something?" Kimihito asked as he noticed that a seat right where his mom wanted was open, and pulled it out from the table, turning it slightly to the doorway.

"Well, no one's been hurt, but you could say that something is wrong." Ai said, a moment before stepping into the doorway.

Ai was wearing a deep red bath robe, and looked fine, but was helping another person move, and no one immediately recognized who it was. She was tall and thinly built with wide hips and ample breasts and looked almost like a model her shape was so perfect. Her hair was a dark white, almost a grey in color and cut short very carefully. Her eyes were red, and had the beginnings of tears at their corners. this, plus the revealing black top that barely covered her breasts, and the just as revealing skirt that could barely be called such, made Kimihito want to speak out as who it was, but was hesitant at first, letting Miia take the first words.

"R-Rachnee, is that you!?" Miia exclaimed in surprise at the well-built, obviously human female that looked to be having trouble standing beside Ai. In fact the only thing keeping her up looked to be Ai, and realizing this Kimihito quickly pulled the chair out further.

"Yes, as much as it irks me to admit." Rachnee said as she wavered uncertainly as Ai led her over to the chair, where Kimihito then helped her into.

Kimihito couldn't help but look Rachnee over once more. As a human she had long legs, a tight waist, wide hips, and very large breasts. She clearly looked to be having trouble moving around, but when Kimihito remembered how much trouble he had with gaining legs as a liminal it made sense that someone with more than two legs would have difficulty when they only have two.

"Is, this what I think it is?" Kimihito asked as he looked to his mother, who then leaned against the doorway into the kitchen,

"Yes, it is." Ai said with a nod and a sigh as she pulled out her phone. "I got an email from the lab yesterday night telling me that some of our blood samples mutated a third Strain of LTS. It goes on to say that this strain affects Liminals instead of humans though, and does the opposite. Instead of turning humans into Liminals, it turns Liminals into humans. And it appears Rachneera here has contracted it!"

Everyone looked at Ai in shock, unable to speak. The fact that LTS could turn a Human into a liminal on a temporary basis was surprising and fanciful in the first place, yet was as real as rain. Compared to the main or second strain though, all of the girls felt, awkward, afraid and scared even, at the idea of it affecting them. After all, what if this strain, wasn't temporary? They could be with Kimihito, but at what cost?

"Ugh, this is annoying, but I suppose it isn't that bad I guess" Rachnee suddenly spoke up in a tone more like her usual as she wiped her eyes with a hand. "Honey had to go through this in a way, so it should be no different, and I'll turn back after a few days anyway."

"B-but will you?" Centorea asked as she looked to Ai. "Will she?"

Ai shrugged. "I'm not sure. The lab only said the new strain had formed in the lab itself, not that it had affected a person. We'll have to wait and find out, I suppose."

Everyone was quiet again, unsure what to say. nd again/ Rachnee was the first to speak.

"Ugh enough of this gloomy atmosphere, I'm human for now, let's just make sure I don't fall over and see what happens!"

"Indeed. Once we get some food in our bodies then we'll deal with the first thing that we'll need to do." Ai said as she walked around the table and took a seat, and a plate of food.

"Right, walking, this will be fun." Rachnee said sarcastically as she tried, and failed, to move her chair in, letting Kimihito do it for her with a nod before he continued to grab food and place it on the table.

"No actually, walking will come second. First will be us seeing if any of my old clothes will fit you. A pair of pants or shots at the very least."

"Why? What's wrong with my own clothing? I didn't change gender, thankfully." Rachnee said with worry as she glanced own at her clothing, somehow finding something about her body to be, off.

"Nothing is wrong with your clothing, for an Arachne. But your, skirt, is far from appropriate for a human due to the differences in our builds," Ai explained as she ate, somehow miraculously able to speak clearly with food in her mouth. "That and you'll need to be wearing something less revealing for when you are learning to walk, as you will fall over numerous times. Unless you want to give Hito a nice look of the scenery?"

Rachnee blushed a shade of crimson she was never able to before and sunk her head down as she tried to handle the fork to eat, finding that having soft fingers was making things both easier, and harder than she was used to. She could feel everything easier, but was having trouble using the correct amount of force to hold he fork, causing it to flip out of her hand twice before she got the hang of it.

"So, will the Lab inform you when they find out more about the third strain?" Kimihito asked as he and Lala sat down and began eating their own food. Everyone else was oddly quiet, unsure of what to think of the situation, and of how to speak to Rachnee.

"I believe so. The email that I got stated that I wasn't being called back from my, forced vacation, so I assume they've diverted resources to it." Ai said as she finished her plate and stood up, walking over to Rachnee's chair.

"Considering I'm still eating, I'd guess you're anxious to begin then?" Rachnee said after a few more bites of food, knowing that Ai was standing right beside her.

" To an extent yes, I'd like to do some minor tests once we've got you walking half decently, and the quicker I get those tests done, the quicker I'll stop having the itch to do them." Ai replied with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Could we do them first then?" Rachnee asked, not wanting that shine in Ai's eyes to be staring at her the entire time while she attempted to walk.

"Unfortunately no. I don't want you hurting yourself during it, so we need you to know how to walk, balance yourself, and move your limbs. So clothing first, then walking, then tests. Probably this evening."

Rachnee scowled and looked at her food for a second before sighing. I'm not as hungry as I should be, so fine, let's get these, pants then." and within seconds Ai had pulled Rachnee up and was helping her out of the room, calling back as she disappeared.

"Hito, meet us in the living room in a few moments, and move the table and furniture to make room please!"

everyone finished their food shortly after Ai left with Rachnee, and then went to the living room, collectively moving furniture against the walls in such a way many people could sit and watch, and so that there was plenty of open space. None of the girls said a single word and simply looked at each other uncertainly. Unlike when Kimihito had LTS, they were all very nervous about this, unlike when they were nearly in a hysterically happy frenzy when Kimihito changed. After all, when he changed, the girls got along time with him, but now, they would still, but were not sure just how, alone, they could safely be.

After a few moments Ai came into the room with a smile on her face and fully dressed in her a simple casual dark blue one piece dress. Beside her, being partially carried, Was Rachnee, and what he was wearing made everyone look on in surprise. Rachnee was wearing a pair of well-worn blue jeans that silhouetted her newly visible butt very well, and with it she wore a simple black t-shirt that was a little too small, her midriff being uncovered and her breasts pressing against it more than it should have normally. She was barefoot, her toes twitching and curling up randomly, but the most surprising was that Rachnee seemed to be completely unable to know how to react to the clothing, or her inside of it, and her completely confused look at how everyone, including Kimihito, looked at her was almost adorable.

"W-wow Rachnee, you look like one of those models in the human fashion magazines." Miia said first, not entirely honestly, but she sugar-coated it enough to make Rachnee's lips twitch into a very slight smile.

"How nice then, I can blend in and not be noticed unless I fall flat on my face." Rachnee said in an annoyed tone as she looked away from Miia, and then ironically almost fell, Ai catching and straightening her up.

"Well, it looks like that's the first thing we'll need to deal with before even e walking. Your balance." Ai said with a slight shake of her head as she then looked to Kimihito, then to the chair he was standing beside, then to the floor near her.

Getting the message Kimihito got up and moved the chair over so that its back was facing Ai and Rachnee. "Here, put your hands on the chairs back so Mom can let go of you." Kimihito said as calmly and helpfully as possible. It made Rachnee begin blushing again, and her first attempt to grab the chairs back almost failed form her looking away from Kimihito.

As Rachnee grippe the couch, far tighter than she probably intended to, Ai carefully let go of her body and stepped to the side, entering teaching mode. "Hito, each time you turned into a liminal the first thing you learned was your balance, correct?"

"Yes, it was important so-"

"Good!" Ai interrupted as she looked to Rachnee and smiled." Rachnera, first move closer to the chair so you're standing up, and not looking like you're begging for it." At this Rachnee blushed brightly red, as did each of the girls, as she frantically and haphazardly moved both of her feet forward, almost dragging them sideways as she did. "Good. Now, when Hito was an Arachne you explained to him how an Arachne's body was balanced, yes?"

"Um, yes, it's in our central abdomen so we can-," Rachnee began to say, before Ai interrupted her as well, clearly pushed on by her desire to test.

"Good, just do the opposite of what you told Hito. You have no second or third abdomen now, and the closest thing to it would be your butt. A human female's centre of balance is in our lower body, just above where our legs connect to our hips. Think about that, know where it is, and let go of the chair."

Rachnee swallowed and closed her eyes, trying to do what Ai told her to. She thought it wouldn't be too difficult, after all, Honey had adapted to each form rather quickly, and spending the rest of those days to adapt even further until movement was not a problem. It quickly became apparent that Kimihito could be an exceptionally adaptable person though, because while Rachnee could envision how her body was now shaped, she had more than just minor trouble grasping how it felt.

Her body felt strange. having normally Eight legs, Balance was just a word meaning more than half of her legs were actually on something, and as Arachne could even walked upside down on their webs, now that she had only two legs, she felt weak, oddly weighted, and flimsy. She could very clearly feel her two legs, thanks in part to the pants that hugged them and her hips, but her feet, felt strange, taking up a far larger area. She could feel the floor under them when before she mainly felt how hard a surface was, but now she felt its texture, that it was cool to the touch, and that her entire body's weight was pressing down on them, instead of being spread out over many more points.

Then a single thought passed into Rachnee's mind, the fact that Honey, seemed to have a thing for legs. Was they just spider legs he was into, or was he into . . . all, legs? With this thought in her mind Rachnee very slowly let her grip on the chair lessen, then pulled one hand away from it. She wobbled only slightly, moving her arm around to get a feel for how it affected her balance. Then, she very, very, slowly, lifted her other hand off the chair's back, and slowly moved it toward her. For a moment she seemed fine, and then she almost fell forward, and caught herself on the chair, panting slightly at the sudden, unfamiliar sensation of falling forward so uncontrollably.

"Not so easy is it. You looked pretty good though; do you understand your balance now?" Ai asked as she leaned against the windowsill casually.

Rachnee slowed her panty until it was dull and slowly looked to Ai and nodded. "Y-yeah, I think so. . . . It's around my, between my legs, but. . . . I think my, breasts, are messing with my balance though." Rachnee admitted uncertainly, Blushing as she did.

Ai seemed to gin devilishly. "Yes, welcome to being a human woman with large breasts. Larger Liminals grow larger breasts in most cases to account for larger children, but humans have a great variety of breast size's, and those with larger sizes often find that their balance becomes slightly more forward, and that their shoulders and back can become sore. Considering your breast size didn't change much, I'd say you're a G or H cup, so yours are rather large. You'll have to account for them in your balance."

" . . . . So, you're saying that while they didn't cause me any problem before, now they'll be the root of them?" Rachnee asked as she tried to stand up on her own again, to slightly more success before falling forward again.

"Yes."

"Great." Rachnee muttered sarcastically as she tried to stand again. And again, and again, looking good to start, but ending up needing the chair's back each time to fall into.

Watching obviously became painful for the other girls, who mostly excused themselves to not get in the way over a few minutes. Miia however had not left, and after seeing everyone else, worked up a small amount of courage and silently slithered across the floor to behind where Rachnee was. Ai and Kimihito saw her do this, but didn't say anything, and didn't need to when Miia suddenly Laid on her back behind Rachnee, and lifted her tail up off the ground, lightly placing the last half of it up in the air lightly against Rachnee's back, curling the rest below to act as a brace. "H-here, lean back against my tail if you need to. So you can stand right and get a feel I mean."

"Oh, this is rater unexpected Miia." Rachnee said in her usual tone, as she stood up, and unbalanced again, but this time fell back against Miia's tail, which promptly pushed her up to a standing position.

"Th-this is just . . . . . . . I'm paying you back, for helping me learn to cook before!" Miia exclaimed angrily as she kept her tail where it was, making sure Rachnee was standing on her own before pulling it back again to catch her a moment later.

"I see . . . . . thank you." Rachnee replied, almost in a whisper.

Both Kimihito and Ai smiled at this, leading Ai on to speak up. "Hito, go and get one of my old pairs of shoes please, at this rate we'll be able to get Rachnera to try to stand and move with them. Let's try and get you standing, and moving on your own power!"

Rachnee looked at Ai for single second, before strongly nodding and trying to stand again, with both Kimihito, and Miia's help.


	22. CH21 - leg limitations - knee high

"I thought we did all the tests you wanted to last night?" Rachnera said in an annoyed tone as she sat on the couch in the living room. Beside her was Ai susing a small syringe and taking a small sample of blood.

The evening before after Ai and Kimihito felt Rachnee had the basics of locomotion down, was when Ai ended up doing all of her tests. they were simple tests really, taste, touch, smell, and visual clarity tests, reactions to certain body parts being tapped, or touched, and it had ended with Ai taking enough blood sample that it actually made Rachnee feel a little dizzy before going to sleep. This morning however, Rachnee had gotten up when she normally would have, and without even being given a chance to sit down and join everyone for breakfast, Ai had dragged her out into the living room for more tests, much to her annoyance.

"Most of them yes." Ai finally said as she pulled the needle out of Rachnee's arm and held a cotton swab to it while she placed the syringe down on a little tray beside her tools. Even without an actual lab in the house, she seemed to have a great variety of tools and machines she could use, and it was honestly rather surprising.

"Then what is this one for? I feel really hungry, which is odd." Rachnee said with a scowl.

Ai simply chuckled to herself as she let Rachnee take the cotton while she more to taking the blood sample out of the syringe, placing it into a small vial that she placed in a small machine hooked up to her laptop. "That is normal; humans don't have the ability to keep a vast reserve of energy like some larger liminal can. it's due to their boy size, so you'll have to have regular meals, and the amount of moving and exercise you do between will affect your appetite more than your used to."

Rachnee checked the cotton to find she wasn't bleeding anymore and dropped it onto the table as she glanced at Ai, slightly angrily. "You haven't answered my first question."

"No, I haven't." Ai said smugly as she set the computer into overdrive and then leaned back on the couch. "It's just to check for one thing I had forgotten to yesterday. Because of the blood I needed for testing taking it as well on top of all the rest would have been less than ideal, for both of us. It was easiest to let you sleep and do it now. Don't worry, if the information from this sample goes well, you'll like the outcome." Ai said with a smile that almost seemed . . . lewd.

Rachnee blushed slightly as he mind dabbled in the possibilities. Before she would never have allowed herself to be so easily aroused, but no her body seemed to react on its own, and it seemed to blush far too easily. "C-can I get breakfast now?"

Ai nodded and watched Rachnee get up and leave the room, her butt filling the jeans she was wearing very well, and the shirt barely containing her chest. it was good one of her old pairs of pant fit her, but she'd need to remember to get Rachnee a top more suited to her size, a bra too. " Oh, there's an idea." Ai suddenly muttered to herself with a smile as she pulled out her cell phone and tapped on it a bit, then placed it by her ear and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until finally it connected.

"Hello this is the-"The voice on the other side began. It was the voice of an older man, but he didn't have a chance to continue.

" Hey Takamiya, it's Ai, Kurusu, I'm sending some data to the Lab cloud, it's blood and testing data for LTS's third strain, specify effecting an Arachne woman." Ai quickly said as she tapped a key on hr computer with a smile.

". . . . . you, are supposed to be on vacation, not working from home Kurusu." Takamiya said sternly.

"Yes well I can't help it, especially when my son has the second strain of LTS, and when the third strain effects one of my homestays. Have you gotten the information or not?"

" . . . . Yes, it's there. But why have you-"

"I want it looked at sooner rather than later, and one thing in particular I want looked into." Ai said with a vile grin, one that would've made anyone shiver if they had seen it.

"Ah . . . Um. . . . And dare I ask, that is?"

"I want you to find out how long the incubation period is on a third strain contractor's reproductive systems are!"

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"You seem pretty calm Rachnera." Mero commented as Rachnee nearly threw food into her mouth. Everyone else was almost done their food by the time she came back in, but now, it looked like she'd finish before them if she didn't slow down.

"I now understand honey's situation and how he coped. I have to get comfortable with m situation, or let anxiety drive me insane." Rachnera said as she put down her fork and grabbed a class of juice, quickly gulping it down. "Besides, walking is a little difficult but it's not that bad I guess."

"How so?" Papi asked as Kimihito got up and began gathering the plates of everyone who had finished, which was everyone but Rachnee and Mero, who was always a slow eater.

Rachnee stopped eating for a second and just stared off at nothingness as she thought for a second, her eyebrows scrunching up as she did before finally speaking. "It's hard to explain. It's a bit hard to walk still as having more than two legs meant I didn't have to worry about my balance, but I feel, lighter I guess. It's hard to say exactly."

"Oh, aren't that just you feeling the lack of your spider butt?" Miia said bluntly, causing Centorea and Mero to glare at her out the corners of their eyes.

"Maybe, it's hard to say." Rachnee said with a grin, showing her completely normal human teeth, making it look like a simple grin, and not the evil maw of fangs her grins could look like before.

"Are you done or do you want some more Rachnee?" Kimihito suddenly asked as he came over to between Rachnee and Mero. He had already picked up Mero's plate, and was looking at Rachnee as he spoke, his hand partially outstretched toward hr now empty plate. She hadn't even realized she had finished already.

"Oh ye-" Rachnee began to say until she stopped, looked down at her stomach for a second and then looked back up meekly. "Um, never mind, no I'm fine, maybe."

"Maybe?" Kimihito asked as he took Rachnee's plate and went into the kitchen.

"My . . . stomach, feels strange." Rachnee said as she looked down at her stomach again and placed her hand on it. It felt different than her torso used to, probably because there were now more organs in it than before.

"You might have eaten too much, or your stomach is not used to the food as a human, so it could be upset." Kimihito explained as he began washing the dishes.

"Oh, maybe. your mother said I'd have a smaller appetite than before, and that I'd go through the energy faster." Rachnee said with a smile as she leaned back in the chair, allowing her to notice Ai coming into the kitchen, just before everyone else did.

"Huuuuuh, Centorea, could I ask you to loan Rachnera a couple of your shirts for her to wear?" Ai asked as she came into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge without even making eye contact.

"I- I suppose I could allow it, may I ask why though?" Cerea asked as she looked to Rachnee and then back to Ai, who appeared to be drinking something. The cabinets made it hard to tell.

"The shirt I've loaned her is too tight on her, and it would be a good idea for her to wear a looser shirt until we can get her an appropriately sized bra."

All the girls looked at Rachnee for a second before the reason why dawned on them, and Rachnee, causing her to move her arms forward, scrunching the shirt a bit in a failed attempt to hide the bumps pressing against her shirt.

"Ah, yes. Of course. I believe I should have a shirt that is plain enough for you." Cerea said directly to Rachnee, in an embarrassed tone for not realizing the reason already.

"Um, thank you for that. This shirt is a little, um, tight. My normal one is as well but the material is a bit, safer." Rachnee said while blushing, noticing out the corner of her eye that Kimihito hadn't even glanced at them during the entire embarrassing conversation, and that for some reason it made her feel strange, almost annoyed.

"Good, now that that is settled, there's something that needs to be done." Ai said with a sigh as she closed the fridge and came out of the cooking area. The house needs a serious cleaning."

Everyone looked at Ai for a moment in complete confusion, the silence being broken a moment later when Kimihito sighed. "Yeah it's been a bit hard to get everything done when I keep changing into different species."

"Yes I understand that but everyone needs to-"

"And everyone has been helping me keep up with them," Kimihito suddenly continued over his mother, "But the house has gotten larger so it takes longer to clean."

Ai looked at Kimihito and seemed to become, annoyed as she squinted at him, and then smiled. "Alright, that's an understandable explanation, but it doesn't change that the cleaning needs to be done."

"So we'll do the cleaning and-"Kimihito began, just as Ai smiled wider.

"So we'll divide up the work so that everyone has something to do, and so everything can be done sooner!" Ai stated loudly as she scratched her chin a bit.

"Wait, what do you mean divide up the work? We've done that before." Miia exclaimed in confusion.

"Yes, and I think it's evident that the Wrong people did the wrong things, so I'll decide the pairings for cleaning!"

"What? Why?" Miia screamed, while Mero and Cerea looked on in horror, suddenly feeling like something very bad was about to happen.

"Because then everyone gets thing done!" Ai said with a smile as she pointed to Miia and Lala. " Miia, Lala, you two are in charge of vacuuming.

"Aw but that's-"

"No buts!" Ai said with a grin s she continued down the list of chores. "Centorea, Papi, I'd like the two of you to deal with the laundry. Mero, I'd like you the two of you to help me with washing the floors, except for the main bath, Rachnera and Kimihito will do it."

"What!? Why does Rachnee get the easy job?" Miia hissed in annoyance.

"Because, she'll have difficulty doing anything until she gets more used to it, and because the Main bath gets a significant amount of use due to the number of people that use it. It needs two people to clean it, otherwise it'd take one person hours on end!" Ai said matter of fact like as she crossed her arm and looked at Miia, as if challenging her.

it had the intended effect and Miia didn't say anything, leaving the kitchen silent.

"Good, Mero, Suu, we'll start the Mopping once the vacuuming has begun a bit, so until then you tow are free. I'm going to try calling Kuroko, so start cleaning please!" Ai said with a happy smile that did not math hr previous tones as she left the room.

For a moment no one said a thing, and then Cerea let out a very loud sigh. "Your mother is planning something, isn't she?"

"Yeah, probably. But unless we know what it is then we can't do anything about it. We should get cleaning." Kimihito said with a shrug as he walked out of the kitchen, leaving all the girls, including Rachnera, staring at him as he left.

" . . . Darlings mom reminds me of mine somehow, it's kind of scary." Miia said with shiver as she hopped out of her seat.

"Maybe, because she's a liminal?" Rachnee chuckled as she very slowly, and with slight wobble left the room with everyone else. It was time to clean.

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Rachnee came into the main bathroom a little later than she intended to find Kimihito on his knees by the faucet, filling a large bucket with hot water. Beside him was a plethora of rags, soap and even a squeegee.

"Oh Rachnee what took- . . . you changed your pants?" Kimihito asked as he turned to Rachnee, and had his gaze drawn to her legs.

Ai had caught her in the hall and dragged her to her room, telling her to change her pants and gave her some to change into. the pants in question were still jeans, but unlike the previous pair, this pair only went down to her knees, making them more like shorts and they were thinner more worn material and felt tighter across her hips. It made sense to clean in older more worn pair of pants, but somehow just wearing them made Rachnee feel odd, and now that Kimihito was looking at her, she felt ever stranger.

it didn't take her even half a glance to realize that Kimihito was staring at her, but what he was staring at was her pants, or more accrual, her lower uncovered legs. And it made her strangely uncomfortable, even if she knew he was attracted to legs. "Um, is something wrong?" Rachnee finally said as she clicked the door closed behind her.

"Ah, err, no, sorry. I was just supplied you changed our pants, thigh I can see why but, are you alright with it? Your legs are going to get wet at the very least."

"I expected that when we were sked to clean the bathroom." Rachnee said smugly as she walked over and carefully knelt down, still not used to doing so, and took a rag and the bucket from Kimihito. "Where do we start?"

"Hmm? oh right, um, I'll start cleaning the tub itself if you want to clean the floor, you'll need to scrub a bit in between the tiles though." Kimihito said as he shook his head and turned to the tub, grabbing a rag and quickly throwing himself into the work.

"Alright," Was all that Rachnee said as she went over to the corner near the door to start scrubbing. it didn't seem so difficult in the idea, but as she began she found that her human body couldn't apply the same force she could as an Arachne, and it was making everything seem harder the longer she worked at it. She was making progress, but she kept feeling like she was being watched, so as she worked she scooted over to the side a bit, enough so that she could glance at the nearby mirror out the corner of her eyes. What she saw was Kimihito taking glances behind him toward her, but what could-.

Then Rachnee realized what was going on. She was human, she on her knees, with her back toward Kimihito; he was either staring at her legs, or her rear, or maybe even both. She suddenly felt her heartbeat quicken and her face flush. She suddenly felt hot and tried to avert her gaze back to her work. Unfortunately because of her sudden feelings, she didn't aim her arm right as she went to put the rag back in the bucket, and caught the edge of the bucket.

"Ah!" Rachnee exclaimed as he hand went over the bucket, causing it to tip. she was fast enough to throw her other hand to grab it, but because she had been kneeling, and was still not used to her current shapes balance, she ended up falling forward, and spilling the bucket anyway; only instead of it spilling just onto the floor, it spilled onto her with a splash and a clatter.

"Rachnee are you- . . . okay?" Kimihito said as he turned around, and felt his voice get stuck in his throat a bit due to the scene before him.

because Rachnee's shirt was black it didn't show anything and was thankfully untouched by the bucket of water. The rest of her body from hr stomach all the way down to her bare feet however was absolutely soaked. hr legs glistened with water and the worn, thin jeans were very clearly wet, and stretching against her body as she lay sideways on the floor. Cursing under her breath Rachnee slowly got up onto her knees and knelt up, causing her now soaked pants to press even tighter against her body as her back was still to Kimihito, until she turned and found him staring, almost mesmerized.

"Um, Honey . . ."

"Ah, s-sorry, are you alright? Did you slip or something?" Kimihito quickly asked as he was pulled out of his very obvious staring at Rachnee's butt. He hid it well, but a very slight blush could be seen on his face.

He was checking me out from behind! Was the first thought into Rachnee's mind as she struggled to ignore the fact and answer. "Um, yes. I'm still not used to my balance and slipped. I guess I increased our mess."

"I guess, but it's not that big a deal, do you need to change your clothes? It looks like you, um, got pretty soaked." Kimihito said as he tried to avert his gaze slightly, and seemed to have ever so slightly ragged breathing.

"Yeah I-" Rachnee began to say abruptly stopping a her mind went back to the situation and made her blush. She should change her clothes, but if the situation is what it is. . . "I should be fine." Rachnee suddenly said with a smile that she hid by turned back away from Kimihito and grabbing the cloth before going back to scrubbing.

"What? b-but you-"

"I'll be a fine, a little water isn't dangerous, and I'd just get the other clothing wet too, so I'll just work like this and hanger when we're done." Rachnee explained, feeling her heartbeat increase as she knew that this teasing was certainly affecting Kimihito and herself to a degree. Teasing him, and showing off her body, for some reason felt way better than usual right now!

Kimihito forced his gaze away from Rachnee and tried to work, but knowing what was behind him was making it slightly difficult, and he couldn't help but sigh under his breath. "Their doing it on purpose, both of them. this is going to feel like it takes ages."

 **Autors note: eheheh this is fun to write, a d I hope everyone is enjoying this and don't worry, I haven't forgotten about kuroko's little catty issue, more of it will appear. trust me**


	23. Special - Kuroko's Conundrum - 2

Kuroko had hopes she would remain anonymous at work, partially due to the fact that she rarely saw her own direct boss unless there was a problem. To put it simply, he left her alone as her work ethic, while sometimes odd, still allowed her to get everything done in a speedy manner. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side, and as she and MON walked into the headquarters building, the chief of police and a few other officers and exchange coordinators were standing in the lobby talking.

And of course, saw her immediately.

Ah, morning smith you. . . . .are you preparing for s costume party or something?" The chief asked in a confused tone when he noticed the ears on kuroko's head.

"Unfortunately not, Nyaa." Kuroko said with a sigh as she and MON walked over, her ears twitching lightly as she walked up to the chief. "I seem to have contracted LTS, hopefully the first strain, but there it is, Nyaa."

"So, you got turned into, a Nekomimi them?" another extra species coordinator asked, stifling a snicker.

"Yes, Nyaa." Kuroko answered as her tailed beat slowly side to side, making some of them notice it as well, and causing them to chuckle slightly.

Most of them all seemed to be holding back laughter or some form of comment, the chief however, simply smiled softly to Kuroko. "Will it impede your work?"

"It shouldn't, Nyaa." Kuroko replied quickly.

"Have you spoken to the LTS researchers, or sent them a bit of your own blood so they can test for what strain it is?"

"I was going to use our equipment to do that before starting work Nyaa." Kuroko replied again, her Nyaa' causing some of the others to bend over and cover their mouths to stop themselves from bursting.

"Then I see no problem. As long as it doesn't impede your work. The chief added as he turned and took a few steps away, then turned back to Kuroko and MON "Would you like anything to be known while I think about it?"

"I'd like this to be kept confidential within the building if possible, Nyaa." Kuroko admitted quickly.

"I'll see what I can do. Take it easy and do your best!" The chief said with a wave as he then walked away for real this time.

"Wow, the chief took that pretty well!" Zombina said in surprise

"Well yes, but mister chief is such a nice man, despite his rugged looks." Tio added with a smile, in her usual happy and chipper tone.

With the chief now gone, the remaining bystanders joined in the conversation, or tried to.

"So Mrs. Smith, are those ears connected? Will you purr cutely if I scratch them?" one officer asked with a smile

Kuroko however, glared at him. "Do not touch, Nyaa. We'll be in our office." She stated as she tried to walk away, giving the officer a perfect chance to try to touch her ears.

His finger brushed it ever so slightly as she walked, and much to everyone's surprise she swung her leg around, caught it on the officer, and then spun around him in a dazzling display that ended with him face down on the ground and Kuroko with a foot pressing down between his shoulder blades.

"I said, no touching, Nyaa!"

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"Uh, and here I thought it'd be easy to not get seen, Nyaa." Kuroko said with a sigh as she sat down at her desk in MONS office. Unlike most of the offices in the building MON's was designed very differently. Instead of just being a mass of desks, there were only three; kuroko's and two others to be used by whomever needed them. there was a half circle of large couches near the doors to the office, and on the wall opposite them was a series of large metal closets, the place where they kept a number of flak jackets, weapons, tools and the like. They did of course have the exact same tools and equipment available In their operation deployment room and the in building firing range, but Kuroko liked having extras around, just in case Tio forgot something, or Zombina broke something.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad right, Nyaa?" Doppel mocked with a snicker as she lazed upside down on one of the chairs by the desk to Kuroko's right.

"Yeah, you're cute to so what's the problem!" Tio said enthusiastically, her voice devoid of Doppel's mocking tone.

"The problem, Nyaa." Kuroko said as she stood and glared at Doppel through her glasses, is that this tail keeps moving about on its own, these ears keep letting me hear more than I'm used to, and these bloody whiskers are so . . .. uuuurrrrrrrgggggghhhh!" kuroko hissed in annoyance as she scratched at the whiskers on her cheeks in annoyance. "These damned whiskers keep messing with my senses!"

"Well, that's kind of what whiskers are for right sense I mean." Zombina said as she sat at the desk to Kuroko's left.

"Ugh, I guess you won't be able to understand my plight in this." Kuroko said with a scowl as she booted up hr computer and began pulling up files.

"it, it can't be that right? It's just a tail and ears, s-so you could just comb them with your hair right? Manako asked carefully.

Kuroko scowled and looked up from her computer, glaring at Manako as she spoke. "I hate cats!"

 **Authors note: slightly shorter chapter this time, but hey, it a Kuroko special so whatevs! There is no canon info about that last line of hers, but I figured it'd be a fun little addition XD**


	24. CH22 - leg limitations - Hot target

"Hito, could you and Rachnee head into the city and pick up the linens you ordered? I got an email last night saying they were to arrive this morning." Ai suddenly asked as everyone was eating breakfast.

"Huh, um, okay. But that'll be lot of sheets wont it?" Kimihito asked, remembering the massive order he had placed.

"Unfortunately no, only a small part of the order arrived, but I don't want to use the car to get it, so we'll pick it up in pieces as it arrives." Ai replied absently as she continued to eat her food.

"What, why does Rachnee go with darling though? Miia hissed in annoyance, clearly upset about this turn of sudden events. "Cant some of us go with, it would make the journey faster!"

"True, except for the fact that I know nearly all of you got tired cleaning the house yesterday." Ai said with a grin. "You're obviously not getting enough exercise, so the rest of us will go to the liminal gym and get you some!"

"But, what about Rachnee, shouldn't she get some exercise too?" Miia complained causing Centorea to sigh.

"You recall that Arachne do not swim well, right Miia? Imagine how Rachnee would do, when she has fewer legs, and is still not proficient with them. What would happen if she were to swim or attempt to run for a prolonged time?" Centorea said carefully.

Miia thought about it for a moment and shivered. "Okay, I see your point. But-"

"No but's. We're going and that's that" Ai said as fact, with smile covering her face. "As soon as everyone is done their food we'll all head out!"

" . . . I suppose I get no say in this." Rachnee said with a sigh as she continued eating.

"Not really." a said with a smug grin.

"Think of it as a brisk walk to exercise your body without drowning. Unless you want to go swimming that badly with only 2 legs?"

"Err, I think I'll go for the walk then." Rachnee conceded, muttering to the side. "I miss my silk spinning."

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True to her words as soon as everyone was finished breakfast Ai had corralled everyone out of the house, taking nearly everyone with her to sports club kobold, and leaving Rachnee with Kimihito to go back to the bedding store in the city.

It was a cool morning, showing that the end of summer was near, and there were few people out on the streets. Kimihito wore a simple pair of pants and his usual shirt with a dark blue jacket overtop, and Rachnee, still borrowing some of Ai and Centorea's clothing, was wearing a pair of tight jeans, a short sleeved white shirt, and a long sleeved black leather jacket that was one of Ai's. It fit well enough, but the difference in bust size was very obviously evident as she was completely unable to close the jacket except for its lowest section, something that pronounced her breasts even more. She had simple running shoes on, but the shape of her body, and the fact she had only two legs under her hips, now caused them to sway; and Kimihito found his eyes glancing over them unconsciously every few moments as the two of them walked slowly down the streets.

"It's going to be a problem when winter comes, isn't it." Rachnee suddenly said as they walked, drawing Kimihito's attention away from what it shouldn't be on, and to Rachnee's face.

"Yeah, Miia and You don't deal with the cold well. And Mero doesn't either. It's probably a good thing mom ordered more sheets with how cold it is already."

"And it isn't even fall yet. haa." Rachnee said with a sigh. "I hate winter."

"I'm not to horribly fond of it either. It'll make it hard to keep everyone fit too, especially if mom is as gung-ho about it as she seems to be suddenly."

"Hmm, yes. She does seem to be-" Rachnee began to say as they rounded a corner into the downtown stretch of road, and found two men standing by the wall just ahead of them. Both men wore loose pants and sleeveless shirts, both with sleeveless vests over them despite the chill morning. And looked more than just slightly, and unfortunately, familiar. "She does seem kind of stuck on it." Rachnee continued, as she ignored the men.

Unfortunately, the men did not ignore them, and as Kimihito and Rachnee walked closer the two of them stepped away from the wall, blocking the sidewalk completely.

"Hey now, where do you think you're going cutie!"

"Yeah, why don't you hang with us instead of some tiny kid?"

"Excuse me, were heading to a store, so excuse us." Kimihito said politely as he tried to walk around the men, only for one of them to step in front of him and push out his chest, acting like it was threatening.

"We were not talking to you, wimp." the one man said to Kimihito as he then glanced to Rachnee. "We were talking to the lovely lady. The lady who deserves real men!"

Oh my god are these guys serious? Rachnee though to herself as their stupidity caused her to shake her head, and finally speak up. "I'm not interested, get lost."

"Oh hey now, don't be like babe, you need a real man! Why not come with us and we'll show you a real good time!"

Rachnee gritted her teeth. "I said, get lost. Or I'll beat you down like last time!"

"Hey now you-, Wait, last time?"

"That doesn't, wait, doesn't this babe look familiar?"

"What? impossible, I'd remember a girl this hot and-"

"Right, let's get out of here while they argue." Kimihito said quietly as he leaned over to Rachnee, the two of them quickly walking around the two men and heading down the street. "I didn't think you'd get them to argue amongst each other, did you plan that?"

"No, I had planned on punching his face in." Rachnee admitted as she looked at her hand and sighed. "I'm not sure how effective it would be though. Direct combat was never my thing really."

A sudden loud noise made Kimihito glance back and scowl. "Well you may be able to find out, they're coming again. You want to run or argue?"

"We're not going to have much of a chance or either, are we?" Rachnee asked as they continued walking, while being yelled at from behind.

" Yeah, probably not," Kimihito admitted with a sigh as the two men caught up to them and one ran in front of them.

"Hey what the hell, we were talking to the lady and you pull her away!"

"Yeah, you looking for a fight, shithead?"

Rachnee turned to Kimihito expecting him to talk them out of it, but instead found him glancing around at their surroundings, then to her.

"Rachnee, can you keep this a secret, at least inside the house?"

"Um, okay?" Rachnee replied, very confused at how oddly serious Kimihito was being.

"Good."

"Hey were talking to you punk!" One of the men said as he stepped forward and grabbed Kimihito by the collar of his jacket.

"Pease let go. We don't want to cause any problems." Kimihito said as he grabbed the man's arm with both of his hands, lifting himself up a bit in the air using the man's arm as leverage.

"Well too bad because there already is a problem, there's no way a puny guy like you can please a babe like that, so shove off and-" The man began ranting, until Kimihito kicked his leg up, right between the man's legs, causing him to freeze up, before loosening his grip on Kimihito and throwing his hands down to his crotch.

"Hey what do you think you're doing!" the other man yelled as he turned to Kimihito and threw a punch at him. Kimihito however stepped to the side of the man's arm and swung his elbow into the man's stomach, causing him to crumple to the ground, a shivering mass of pain and muscles.

"I'm telling you to get lost. If someone says there not interested, then you have your answer." Kimihito said as she shook his head and walked off, Rachnee following him with a shocked expression. He had heard from Miia that he was capable of such a feat, but actually seeing it was a different thing entirely. And it made her feel strange.

"Is that what you didn't want everyone to know? That you can beat punks down?" Rachnee finally asked as she caught up to Kimihito and steadied her pace, something that was still a bit difficult for her.

"No, what I don't want known is how easy it was." Kimihito said meekly as he looked down the street, their destination in sight. "Because my mother is liminal I'm a bit tougher than a normal person, but I really don't like doing it. It makes me feel bad."

"Well it's safe with me, and I'm sure it's safe with everyone else," Rachnee said with a smile, the strange feeling still over her body as she suddenly had a thought as they neared the store. "Do you think the clerks will question two Arachne not picking up the order?"

Kimihito stopped at the door and groaned. "Dammit."

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Ai let out a content sigh as she lay on one of the tanning benched at sports club kobold. Everyone was either in the pool doing laps and playing, or in the case of Papi and Suu, in a shallow pool for Suu's sake.

they had hit up the machine rom and the running track ,and had even had lunch already, but none of the girls seemed to slow, likely because of how well they had been eating lately, though Ai had insisted they to do anything too strenuous for a bit after eating, just in case.

Lifting her sunglasses up she glance over and grabbed her phone to check the time, just as it began to vibrate. Without checking the caller Ai swiped it on and brought it to her head with content Sigh. "Ai Kurusu speaking!"

" Ai, this is Takamiya. . . . . we've finished analyzing that data you sent and-"

"Oh good, what did you find!" Ai interrupted energetically, cuasing a sigh to come through the line.

"I was about to say, that we've sent the result to you by email for simplicity so-."

"Then why did you call me?"

"If you would let me finish . . . . . . . I'm calling to tell you that we'll need you back pretty soon. I want you to catch a flight back to the lab the day after tomorrow."

"Oh? Running into that many problems without me, huh?" Ai teased with a snicker, causing a groan on the line.

"In a sense. Either way you've got two more days of leave, and then we need you back. So we'll see you soon."

Then the line closed. With the call ended Ai smiled and quickly opened up her email and looked into the info Takamiya sent. She was so curious and hopeful from the information it held she closed her phone, not noticing a single other email she would have been happy to see.

From: Rou Kurusu Subject: home soon

 **Slightly shorter chapter, and it has been a while so i apologize. I've been trying to finish my Fic Border of the void, so I've been putting off other writing. i took the liberty of adding the content from the OVA Ep to allow Suu and Papi to the sports club here. if you havnt watched the OVA you should, it's quiet fun, though it is a bit, padded (for length, not bust, thoigh there is that so . . . . you get it. probably.)**

 **either way i hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and looks forward to the next one. hopefully i can get it written faster than this one.**


	25. CH23 - Keg limitations- offhand question

"So, it looks like I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to head back to the lab." Ai suddenly stated as everyone was sitting down for lunch.

"Got called off your forced vacation?" Kimihito replied instantly from the tables opposite end. He seemed used to such a thing, but everyone else seemed surprised that she had to back already, especially since most of the girls had gotten used to her now.

"Yeah. They've gotten stuck on the third strain's structure. So I'm being called back too. I had just become really relaxed too, but oh well." Ai said with a shrug.

"When did you find this out though?" Mero asked, sounding upset that Ai's leaving was just the next day.

"I found out yesterday while we were at sports club kobold actually, so it's not like I haven't had time. All of my stuff is packed; I just forgo to say anything yesterday night or this morning. Oops." Ai aid with a smile, making it clear she waited intentionally for some reason.

"Well it will be unfortunate that you must go, but it was good to meet you and you're not leaving till tomorrow so . . ." Miia said absently.

"Oh, upset I'm going Miia?"

"Well yeah. Getting your permission for darling would have been perfect. "Miia said with a sigh, not realizing that everyone could hear her.

Ai grinned. "If you'll let me have some of your blood then I'll think about it.

"Yeah sure I'll just. . . .Eeek, no! No way, nope! Not happening!" Miia hissed, realizing that Ai was the one talking to her.

"Darn, thought I had you that time. Reptilian blood is like a fine red wine." Ai pouted, causing all the girls to chuckle in fear. Since the day after Ai had appeared she had been attempting to trick everyone into letting her sample their blood, a prospect everyone found slightly disturbing. The fact that she was leaving for work was a small blessing in disguise because of it, but no one would admit it to her, or Kimihito.

"Do you think you'll find more information about this?" Rachnee asked gesturing to herself, still human.

"I believe so. I was sent a bit of info though that said you should be turning back in the next day or so. If it's accurate of course. but yes I believe I'll make some good headway into the third strain, especially with the samples you gave me."

"That's good. Hopefuly no one else has this happen. It's unnerving and complicated. . . . Do you think you'll find cures for all of LTS then?" Rachnee asked.

"Perhaps, but all the strains will take more time to deal with. The third will be easier because Human DNA is simpler than most Liminal DNA's to mess around with."

"Ugh, when you say it that way it sounds, kind of creepy." Centorea said with a shiver.

"Really, I never noticed." Ai said absently as she leaned back in her chair. "oh yeah, before I forget, I'll be making dinner on my own tonight Hito."

Kimihito looked at Ai as he stood up and began gathering everyone's lunch dishes. "Okay."

The entire dining room froze. Kimihito had always cooked the meals, and even when Ai came home he still did, she just helped him. So why was Ai suddenly wanting to cook dinner, by herself?

"Excellent! I need you and the girls to go out and get some groceries then!" Ai exclaimed as she pulled out a notepad and began scribbling down a list. At first it seemed normal, until she began writing on the third page of paper.

"Um, isn't that a bit much?" Mero asked in a worried tone.

"No not really. Hito's been keeping the fridge stocked pretty well, but the freezer is pretty bare and I want to make sure you've all got food in the house after I leave."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Miia exclaimed automatically, causing everyone else to sigh, and Ai to grin.

"I do however need to do a few more tests on Rachnee, so she'll have to stay behind." Ai added as she finished the list, a total of four and half notepad pages.

"What!? Why does Rachnee get to stay behind again? This is liminal Abuse!" Miia exclaimed, making Centorea sigh

"She is a liminal Miia." Mero said, adding to Centorea's sigh.

"Yes, I am. You all should get going though; I'll need some of those groceries for dinner."

Kimihito sighed and walked out of the kitchen calling back as he went. "I'll get my shoes on."

Rachnee watched as everyone else got up and began to leave the table to head out, but what caught her attention was Ai's expression. It was extremely happy, and there was a sense of, unease Rachnee could feel off of her. it took almost half an hour for Kimihito and everyone else to leave, but when they did, Ai let out a sigh, and hr expression changed slightly though Rachnee want sure how.

"Well, now that we're alone-"Ai began.

Oh, that's what's going on.

"I would like to ask you something Rachnera." Ai finished, looking at her with a, strange look.

"Alright, I've told you everything that I've had trouble with in this form though." Rachnee replied. This was probably going to be another request for samples or something; she had said she wanted more after all.

"Do you want to sleep with Hito?"

has stopped functioning.

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Rachnee blinked and saw nothing for a moment; then she blinked again and realized she was still sitting in the kitchen. Ai had said something and it made her black out, but what had she-

"Oh you're lucid again, good. So do you want to sleep with Hito or no?" Ai asked from the kitchen where she was doing something with a bowl.

". . . . . So, I hadn't heard things. Did you really just ask me that? Why?"

"Hm, I wonder!" Ai said aloud with a long hum. a very long hum.

"Can you answer the question please?"

"I could. . . . . I got some info from the lab that is very interesting. A liminal that has been turned into a human is completely unable to get pregnant, and as all of you are interested in Hito, but the laws are still stupid, I thought I'd see what you say to it!"

Rachnee looked at Ai and couldn't help but sigh inside. She was evil, utterly evil. She had seen some of it in how she liked to mess with people, but this was just- she was evil!

"Do you not want to sleep with Hito then?" Ai asked again, sounding downbeat this time, as if she was trying to imitate a sad puppy.

Rachnee thought about it for a moment and then sighed. Saying she didn't want him would be a lie, however! "No I will not sleep with him not like this. If I am to make him mine, I must do it in my normal shape." Rachnee said finally.

Ai smiled, softly this time. "Excellent! Then I can put some of it in your food too!"

Hold the hell up! "Um, what?"

"I can put some of this in all of the food then!" Ai said as she lifted up a shady looking white bottle.

"Um, what is that?"

"This?" Ai asked as she pointed to the bottle and smiled. "It's a slow release tranquilizer. It takes about two hours to begin releasing, and then another two for it to fully release. It's strong enough to even knock out large Liminals!" Ai said proudly.

"But, why are you putting it into the food?" Rachnee asked, very nervously.

Ai smiled and put the bottle down, or into whatever she was cooking, it was hard to say. " well, it's a full moon tonight, and there are lots of liminal girls in the house, and I need to wake up early tomorrow, so I need to make sure everyone sleeps so I can get some rest."

"Oh, that seems normal I guess."

"And I had figured that if you did want to sleep with Hito I'd hit everyone but the two of you with the tranquilizer so you two could have fun unimpeded!"

"And there it goes. Are you getting worse or what?" Rachnee said with a sigh.

"No, I just a little more off on Full moons, especially if I haven't tasted blood in a while. And especially since I haven't had Rou's in months!" Ai stated, sounding both happy and exasperated at the same time as she licked hr lips, adding to how creepy her words were.

"Rou?"

"Ah, Hito's Dad, My Honey!" I said with a smile. "Maybe you'll meet him at some point!"

"I guess so." Rachnee said, just as the door to the house swung open.

"We're back!"

"Ah, good. Let's help them bring everything in." Ai said as she began waking to the doorway, but stopped at it and glared at Rachnee, "and no telling them about the tranquilizer!"

 **authors note: Ah, this took a while and it shouldn't have! Well I guess it should have, I was having trouble figuring how Rachnee would react to such a question. I think this feels right. Hopefully.**

 **On a different note, I have a question I am putting into a poll on my profile, and that question is this.**

 **Would you be interested if I wrote an original fanfic for monster musume? Original characters and all, I mean. And maybe some lemon in it, or a lot, hard to say. But would that interest ya?**


	26. CH24 - Father figure

**Authors replies:**

 **DaToskin: true, but I'd consider it simply as a friendly fic to attempt to reach up to. XD**

 **MyMazeMan: Maybe, if you're meaning the two words squished together, that's because there's a limit on chapter name length. It was either that or the question having no N.**

 **Allard-Liao: I kind of skipped them. Sorry.**

Kimihito knew what was going to happen when his mother told him she was cooking. And because of it he had the best sleep he had in weeks. it was perfect, he slept like a log, and nothing broke it. No one broke into his room, tried to slip into his bed, or anything, and it was even better because he had such a good sleep on a full moon night!

The morning however, was not quite as good.

". . . dammit." Kimihito said with a sigh as he sat up in his bed, realizing it was HER bed again. LTS Strikes again!

"What the hell am I now though?" Kimi muttered as he looked herself over. She looked completely human, just was a girl. Was she a vampire like her mother now, a doppelganger maybe? Just what was she?

"Ugh, maybe I'll just ask mom before she leaves . . . . . . . actually, I should go make breakfast before she leaves first. " Kimi admitted as she got up off her bed and began digging out her female clothing that was now basically stockpiled in one drawer of her room.

the fact that she had them in her room constantly was bad enough, but the fact and realization that she now could throw a girls clothes on flawlessly ate away at her mind as she left her room and headed downstairs.

With everyone high on liminal focused tranquilizer the house was deadly silent, and when Kimi got to the kitchen she found it empty. Even once she finished the food no one had woken up, but a few moment after, sleepy, groggy and listless liminal girls slowly began trickling in, starting with Ai, who was wearing casual clothes, with a lab coat over them. Within a few minutes everyone was at the table.

"Ugh, I'm so stiff." Miia complained as she nearly lay on the table itself, voicing everyone's current situation.

"Yeah. I fell asleep right after dinner, it was weird. I hope I don't gain too much weight." Mero added as she listlessly poked at her breakfast.

"It's alright yes? A good sleep is good for your complexion!" Ai said, strangely happy and warm sounding compared to her usual self. "I should get going though; otherwise I'll miss my flight.

"Ah, I'll see you out." Kimi said getting up from her chair, causing everyone to watch her for a second.

"Um, is something wrong with darling?" Miia asked, still groggy.

"Maybe, I'm not sure." Rachnee answered, now an Arachne again, though no one noticed.

Slowing following suit everyone filed into the hallway, finding that Ai had already gotten her shoes on and had her hand on the door. Then the doorbell rang.

"Huh? Who could that be? Ai muttered as she opened the door wide enough for everyone to see.

Standing outside the door was a man in a black suit. His hair was black and cut short, slicked back as well, and his eyes were a light brown in color. He had an average build, and held a suitcase in one hand. And as soon as the door opened he was smiling. "I'm Home, Ai."

"ROU!" Ai called out as she dropped her bag that had been in her one hand and lunged at him, hugging him with her whole body.

The girls all found this surprising and it shocked them out of their stupor. With Ai being a liminal and stronger than she looked, they figured she'd knock the man over instantly, but instead he took it in stride, hugging Ai back and them using her momentum to spin her around on the door step.

Then when he put her down Ai latched her teeth onto his neck, and there was a very descriptive sucking sound for a few seconds. "I missed you!" Ai said as she pulled her teeth away, two small holes showing on the side of the man's neck, and a small amount of blood on Ai's lips.

"And I missed you to." Rou said with a warm smile that, too all the girls, looked exactly like Kimihito's smile. "Though from the looks of it you're heading back to work, huh?"

"Oh, crap. Yeah. LTS is driving the other guys nuts back at the lab. They had only sent me on a forced break because I was getting too far ahead of them." Ai said, looking as if he was pouting, but was happy while doing so.

"So the normal then. Oh well. I'm off for a few weeks so I'll watch the house and our guests."

"Oh, so you know then?"

"Of course I know, you sent me updates, remember?"

"Oh, did I? I think I'm a little fuzzy from the tranquilizer last night."

"Ah, that explains that then." Rou said with a laugh. The girls however, did not take this information so well.

"Did she say tranquilizer?" Mero asked or all of them, though she was ignored for the moment.

"Well it's good to know everything is fine. But you'd better get going, or you'll miss you flight, yes?" Rou asked calmly.

"Oh yeah!" Ai exclaimed as she turned around, ran back to the doorway, grabbed her bag and then ran right past Rou and off down the street. "I'll call you later Rou!"

Rou watched until Ai disappeared then took a deep breath and let it out while he rubbed his neck a bit, a smile covering his face. Then he turned and walked over to the door, into the house and closed the door.

"Hey dad." Kimi said calmly from the back of the group of girls, all of their gazes tuck on how much Rou looked like Kimihito, or Kimihito looked like Rou.

"Hey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . do I not get a hug?" Rou asked after a substantial silence.

"Um, that would be-"

"Just get over here girl, your mom already told me the gist of it."

"Wait what! Darlings a girl again?!" Miia exclaimed as everyone looked as Kimi walked past them and up to her father, embracing him in a hug.

Then her head fell backwards off her body and onto the floor. "OW"

Rou let go of Kimi's body and held it steady by the shoulder, looked down at Kimi's head, that now had a very exasperated face on it and chuckled. "There are better ways of telling me that you're losing your mind over girl troubles you know?"

"Dammit, not the time!"

 **Authors note: Short chapter again, but this was the absolute perfect way to end it. I regret nothing.**

 **On other note, it seems the instant reaction to the idea of an original monser musume fic is a very one sided yes. So I'll get to fiddling with the concept so it'll be ready. Hope ya liked the chapter, and Rou's introduction.**


	27. ch25 - Head games

"So, to do this correctly, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rou Ashimata Zousou Kurusu. Kimihito's father, and a Diplomat with the Japanese government who primarily deals with Liminal groups and homestay regulation explanations. it is my pleasure to meet you all and have you stay in our humble home" Rous said as he bowed slightly.

Forgetting the stupid comment he made immediately upon entering the house he had ushered everyone into the living room for proper introductions and was standing by the one side, seemingly content to not sit. Kimi was sitting on the couch with Papi on the far end and Lala between them. Lala had her head on her lap, much to Miia's disgust, but had helped Kimi put her head back on. Now she was eyeing Kimi carefully, waiting for the inevitable moment when she'd do something that would cause her head to fall, or fly, right off.

As it was, No one had really been sure what Kimihito's father would be like. From the way Ai was, it was kind of expected that he would be similar, but ignoring his previous horrible joke, he now seemed, calm, pleasant, proper, refined, and extremely courteous. nothing like they had figured he would be.

It was slightly jarring, especially since he was supposed to be married to Ai.

"I guess that my que then?" Kimi said with a sigh, knowing that no one was going to answer her question as she began the introductions. "Dad, this is Miia, Centorea, Papi, Rachnera, Suu, Mero and Lala, our homestays."

"Excellent. Again it is my pleasure to meet you all." Rou said with another slight bow. "I hope you've all been learning as much as you can and haven't been too uncomfortable."

"No, it's been quite comfortable thank you, and we've had many chances to learn much about japans culture!" Mero quicken said with a smile, doing her usual clapping together of her hands.

"Yes, we've seen both good and bad indeed." Rachnee said with a smirk as one of her legs twitched a bit.

"It's not that bad, sure there are some idiots!" Miia exclaimed, "But darling totally makes up for that!"

"It makes up!" Suu copied energetically as she lay on the floor as a slime puddle, a cute one.

"That's good. For all the good a culture has, it has bad as well, and you cannot see the culture for what it is without seeing all of it. It's good you have too. And I'm glad to actually talk to you all so quickly. The info Ai gave me was good, but it's always better to speak to someone in Peron, otherwise you can't tell what they are really like!"

Everyone looked at Rou for a second in confusion. What he said mostly made sense, but when did Ai have a chance to give him any kind of information? Hadn't she been surprised to see him on the doorstep?

"Um, didn't you come kind of out of nowhere?" Miia asked, not realizing how badly her question was worded.

Rou however either didn't mind, or didn't notice and smiled. "What? Oh, I see. You're confused about Ai giving me info right? This is how." He explained as he tilted his head and pointed to the little dots that were what remained of where he had been bitten. "Vampires can transmit a small amount of information through blood when they bite someone, but it only works if the Peron has been bitten a lot by, and if they share a connection with the vampire in question. That's how she gave me a vague understanding of what's gone on while I've been gone."

Everyone cringed slightly at the information. Ai's constant attempts to get at their blood had been bad enough, but known that knowledge could be given by it was just, wrong.

"There is one thing that surprised me though." Rou suddenly stated as he looked to Kimi with a smirk. "When your mother sent me mail weeks ago saying you had gotten LTS I wasn't sure what to believe. But she never told me it changed your gender when it changed your species!"

"Believe me. It isn't thrilling. Kimi said with a sigh, just before the momentum of tilting her head caused her head to slip. Luckily Lala had seen it before it happened and had been ready, catching Kimi's head before it could fall. "Ah, thank you Lala."

"Mm, to be dashed upon the foul ground is a fate as painful a death." She responded causally.

"Heh, quiet the prophetic one huh. So you've been turned into a Dullahan then, what else have you been turned into?" Rou asked quizzically.

" . . . Lamia, Merperson and Arachne." Kimi said with a sigh, careful not to tip her head to much this time. Not moving her upper body was going to take a lot of getting used to.

Rou let out a low hum with a smile. "So each ting you've become has either been, or has been related to our homestays then?"

"It would seem that way." Centorea provided.

"I see. On the upside then there are only so many more possibilities for it to turn you into," Rou said as he looked to Lala. "As the resident Dullahan, would you mind watching out for Kimihito while he. . . . She I guess at the moment, is like this?"

Lala simply nodded.

"Good. Now I'm sure we'll have lots of time to get to know each other, but first there's something that must be done." Rou said, causing everyone to grow nervous.

Was he going to plant down ground rules? Demand information? What did he mean by-?

"It's noon, so first I'll make lunch for everyone. Kimihito you stay here as we don't want you hurting your head at the worst time. I will need someone to help me however."

"I can help you well enough I think, though I may take up some room." Rachnee suggested as she stood up.

"Good. I'm sure we can manage, and Arachne have a notoriously excellent sense of taste so I will not worry about what I ask you to do."

"That's fine. Oh and you should know while she is female we've been referring to Honey as, Kimi." Rachnee provided as the two walked out of the living room leaving everyone but Kimi and lala very confused.

"Um, how does he know that?" Miia asked in a strange tone. She wasn't sure if Rachnee had been simply courteous or flirtatious, and it was messing with her head, a lot.

"Uh, ask him later. It'll be easier that way." Kimi said with a sigh as she tried to stand up, and quickly lost her head again, nearly falling to the ground if Lala hadn't been there to catch her head. " ugh, this is going to suck."


	28. CH26 - Serious talk

**Authors note: I apologize for the delay, but as we jump back to it, this one may take a little more of a, series tone to it. And shall precede something very interesting!**

Everyone was quick to get used to Rou, finding just from lunchtime conversation, that he was both calm, understanding, and extremely well versed in Liminal Biology and Cultures. By the time lunch was over, everyone was still in the kitchen, talking happily with Rou, and by the time dinner time rolled around, everyone was quiet content with his presence.

Unlike Ai, he did not tease or manipulate anyone, joked rarely, and was an all-around nice guy.

Kimi however managed to stay out of the conversations, not because she dint want to join in, but because she couldn't.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous." Kimi's head said with a sigh as it sat on her lap. She had tried to get up with Lala's help to go to lunch when it was ready, but could not manage to keep herself balanced to an extent that her head would stay in one place. This meant that Lala had to carry kimi's head to the table, disturbing Miia in the process, and then escort her body to the table and put her head back on.

That afternoon was spent entirely with Kimi trying to balance herself appropriately so he could function on her own. Something that it appeared was more difficult than it had seemed.

Kimi felt a hand on her head and a then noticed Lala shift her body forward into her peripheral vision, managing to keep her head on even at what looked to be a forty degree angle. "It be difficult, thee will have ta learn." Lala said simply, in a very calm manner, just before she tipped her body back a bit too fast, and her head tumbled down on to her lap, quickly getting caught by her hands which put it back into place.

It didn't exactly give kimi a lot of faith.

"I know, but this is, annoying. Everything other time I changed I could grasp the basics in a day for the most part. Now I'm stuck on the couch because I can't even walk, despite a Dullahan being the most humanoid of anyone here." Kimi muttered, clearly very annoyed by the turn the afternoon had taken.

Lala was silent for a moment as she shifted her gaze over her shoulder, toward the kitchen, still full of noise as everyone else and Rou talked. "Yer father is . . . . . . " Lala let her sentence hang, as if at a loss for the right word.

Kimi would have nodded if she could have, understanding what Lala was trying to get at. "Yeah. He's calm, respectful, and intelligent. He taught me a lot. I just wish I was in better shape to talk to him, something about it feels odd now." Kimi said, just as a small crash and the sound of laughter came from the kitchen. "Ugh, someone just challenged him to an arm wrestle didn't they?"

Lala shook her head. "Miia hath used her tail in place of it. She doth be upon the floor presently."

Kimi let out a sigh. "He's also very strong for a human. With mum as a wife he needed to be. He told me he needed to be strong in both body and mind to control himself when at work."

Lala looked to Kimi quizzically.

"He's a diplomat that deals with Liminals. He was one of the first willing diplomats to volunteer to meet Liminal Cultures. Some of them were apparently, very forward, like the Lamia." Kimi explained with another sigh, knowing from constant experience how forward many Liminals could indeed be, and could even quickly figure who was on the top and bottom of that spectrum.

Miia was easily one of the tops of the list, whole Lala was right down at the bottom.

Granted it was a very tight list.

Lala nodded silently. And for what felt like an eternity, all that could be heard was noise and voices from the kitchen. Slowly it died down, along with slow methodical sounds of weight on the stairs, doors opening and closing and people spitting.

Using her hands to turn her head to the window Kimi could see it was now dark out.

"You know, if you'd stayed in the kitchen you'd probably not be so bored out here Kimihito," Rou said as he walked into the living room and very carefully sat down in the armchair, glancing at kimi's head. "Ah, sorry, the girls are calling you 'kimi' when your female, aren't they?"

"Uh . . . Yeah." Kimi answered, finding it oddly difficult to look at her father.

"Are you fine?" Rou asked.

"Well, I've gotten used to the name and-"

"Kimihito, I meant are you fine with this whole LTS business." Rou said, sounding strangely calm, like an ocean right before a typhoon. It made Kimi freeze up for a moment, and a quick glance at Lala showed that she was suddenly very tense.

"Oh, um . . . Well, that's-"

Rou let out a long sigh and then levelled his gaze at Kimi and Lala, and they both instantly shivered involuntarily. "Kimihito! How well are you dealing with LTS. Your mother made it seem like you are fine, but I want an honest answer from you." Rou said calmly, but despite his calm Kimi felt she could not argue or lie to him. It was the one thing that few people knew about her father. He was kind, calm and so many other things. But when he wanted an honest answer or pushed something, you did not back away or lie. It just felt impossible.

"I – no. I'm not really okay with it." Kimi said causing Lala to visibly look surprised. "I can't stand it honestly. Growing up and only knowing about mom later, was one thing. But being swapped around into different liminal species is, it's infuriating! Just as I get used to the change and think 'I can deal with this now' it drops me back to human, and then drops me into a different form! Yes I'm getting to understand everyone's problems and what they go through, but- but it feels like I'm being toyed with, jerked around!"

By this point Kimi was nearly hyperventilating, and Lala had an expression of pure surprise covering her face. "It. it be not just her difficulty." Lala spoke up suddenly. "It changes all around in ways mortals cannot understand."

Rou glanced to Lala and smirked. "I believe I understand it perfectly. with Kimihito, Kimi, constantly changing, it makes everyone look forward to when she'll change into their species so they can have time with her to themselves and when she turns back, they feel like it went by too fast, and are against the others having time with her." Lala's eyes widened at Rou's words. "Would you say that is accurate?"

Lala looked at Rou for a moment and thought about it. It did feel accurate. No matter how much everyone talked or dealt with their own and Kimihito's changes, it felt accurate. Lala nodded.

"Okay and thank you for being honest with me." Rou said with a sigh. "I know my wife and her fellow scientists mean well, but they likely have been focusing on the scientific prospects of LTS, and not the psychological effects of it."

"Wait," Kimi suddenly said with surprise. "You mean-"

"Rou nodded. " Yes, the government asked me to find some physiological information on LTS. And as my own son has it, it seemed most prudent to simply come by." Rou said with another sigh. "I'll be staying here for a while; both so I can catch up with you and gather some other information. If that' alright with you Kimihito?"

Kimi nodded. "It's no problem. Actually admitting that I'm not really good with what's going on is, I feel better now." Kimi admitted with a slight smile.

It was strange, seeing his son as a girl, but Rou was happy that Kimi was feeling a bit better, even if it was just marginal. "Thank you. . . . Was one of the girls a human before I got here today?"

"Um, yeah. Rachnee was."

"I see. Hopefully another girl doesn't catch LTS again soon. It's late though, so I'll see you in the morning." Rou said as he stood up and walked to the doorway of the living room, just before he left with a yawn, then called out from the hallway. "Get to bed already!"


	29. CH27 - Fallen Feather

Papi opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling of her room. The plain pale yellow ceiling and walls stared back at her. Under her she could feel the pile of pillows that made up her bed.

But, something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The air, smelt wrong, even though the window to her room was open as it always was, she could feel the slight morning breeze through it.

Her bed of pillows felt strange as well. Like the pillows were smaller than they should be and less plushy, like she was heavier than he should be, like she had eaten too much the night before. Which was unlikely considering how much fun it was talking with Kimi's father.

It had been weird, meeting Kimi's father and speaking with him. He was very knowledgeable about all kinds of liminal culture, and it impressed Papi, and made it clear where Kimi got her . . . . . skills . . . . . from.

Then Papi realized what was partially wrong. She wasn't thinking of Kimi as boss. In fact her thoughts were, odd as it was. She was thinking so clearly. But, did she not normally think clearly? It was strange. Why her thoughts felt so . . . . . .

constrained. Her thoughts felt both more open, but also more constrained for some reason. Her head felt strange, and her entire body felt, fuzzy. But not the good kind.

Papi tried to move and found a strange vertigo hit her head. "Waaaah, that's not nice." Papi muttered to herself as she fell back onto her pillow and held her head. Then she realized, there wasn't the sensation of feathers on her head, but the feeling of human fingers.

Someone was in her room.

In a panic Papi threw up her wing at the hand, but when it connected, it hurt, both her wing, and her other wing.

Then she glanced at her wing where it hurt. And it wasn't a wing.

It was an arm, complete with a hand full of fingers, and no feathers.

Papi was frozen for a moment before she tried to move the talon that would be on her wing. The fingers on the hand moved instead.

She looked down the arm, to find it attached to her own shoulders. her nightware was disheveled, but she could clearly see human legs, ending in human feet down below her waist, and not her talons.

"I . . . I've turned into a human, just like Rachnee did!" Papi exclaimed to herself in surprise as she looked herself over again in surprise and shock. After a few seconds she looked up from her body and at the door to her room. The sun was shining through the window onto it, and if the sun was out, it was morning.

Morning meant breakfast, and breakfast meant everyone would be up!

"Ah I need to, Waaah!" Papi squeaked as she tried to jump up off the pillows like she normally would, only for her to fall down onto her face. Luckily a pillow was there. "Ah, ow. My feet don't move how I want them to!" Papi complained as she flipped herself over and lifted her legs up into the air, looking them over. Human feet, she hadn't really ever looked at them hard, but the fact they had five toes made it odd. She was used to her talons, and while she could wiggle them, they did not move quiet how she wanted.

Rolling onto her belly, Papi pushed hr legs under her until her feet were on the ground and very slowly tried to stand up. Her legs wobbled, and she had to drop down to the floor four times to fix her balance, but eventually Papi stood up and looked around with a sigh. "That was hard. Do all humans have such trouble standing? Uh, I miss my wings already." Papi complained to herself as she carefully walked over to the wardrobe were her clothing was kept and changed out of her nightgown and into her usual shorts and a shirt. Somehow her tube top felt weird to even consider, maybe it was because of the increased size of her breasts?

Once dressed Papi left her room, silently thanking the fact that the door handle was a lever, not a knob, and went on to the kitchen to see what would happen.

Rachnee had seemed to almost enjoy being human, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad?

Right?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kimi had woken up in strange positions numerous times since coming down with LTS. Wrapped in knots, hanging upside down, they were almost normal.

Waking up with her body holding her own head tightly in her own cleavage, not so much.

"Ugh, this is new . . . . And wrong." Kimi muttered as he body let go of her head and rolled onto its back. Was her body still partially asleep or something? She tried thinking about sitting up and grabbing her head, but there was no reaction whatsoever!

The night before had been bad, Lala having to carry her head, with her body walking ahead of them to the room, and it had been even more awkward to have her head sitting on her bed while her body tumble around trying to get changed. That was bad for numerous reasons, the most prominent one rearing its ugly head again as her body finally sat up.

Got up off the bed.

And began stripping out of her nightwear.

Just like that.

It was bad, really bad. When she was any other form of liminal it was bad enough just because their bodies felt different and it made getting dressed even harder than being a woman did. But this felt like she was some sort of pervert who got off on watching other women dress.

The fact that her body had some decent curves and that she could see EVERYTHING didn't help the situation either! Her body twisted at the worst times, bent over at the worst times, and it was even worse when her body finished stripping and began putting on clothing, starting with the underwear!

Wearing it was bad enough, but she really felt wrong on too many levels watching her own body get dressed from the underwear on up!

Kimi wanted to avert her eyes, but her body was stupidly preoccupied with dressing, so all she could do was close her eyes and hope.

After a few moments she opened her eyes to find her body standing there. Wearing pants and socks, but no top. It seemed her own sight had some part in her bodies actions.

Damn it.

After painfully hunting for a shirt, Kimi forcefully had her body come over, pick up her hand and slowly walked out of her room. Lala had suggested she simply carry her head the night before, and it was easier, if very strange, to have such a lower point of view and to feel her breasts pressing against the side of her head constantly.

Heading down to the kitchen Kimi found her father already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. The only other person in the kitchen was Suu, and she was a gelatinous blob on the table, wiggling about with a smile, her slime ahoge bouncing happily. "Rou nice!"

"Ha ha ha, thank you for saying so. Here's another, catch." Rou said as he deftly plucked a piece of Bacon out of the pan and tossed it at the table. Suu's Ahoge moved like a whip, snatching it out of the air with a slight sizzle when she ate it, the bacon quietly sliding into the center of her mas as she contently smiled for a few seconds.

"Oooooooh, ah, Kimi, Awake!" Suu said joyously as she wriggled across the table toward her as Kimi sat down, placing her head on the table.

"Yes, I'm awake. Morning Dad." Kimi said with a sigh as her body leaned back in the chair.

"Morning!" Rou replied enthusiastically a he looked over to Kimi and scowled lightly. "Normally I'd say to not rest your head on the table, but considering the situation I'll let it slide. How was your sleep?"

"It was fine I guess. Waking up, not so much." Kimi replied with a heavy sigh.

"I see. I'll drop it then. And good morning to you, Mero, Lala." Rou greeted, half a second before the two of them came into the kitchen, surprised by him guessing it was them so easily.

"oh my, how did you know it was us?" Mero asked as she wheeled herself around the table.

"The wheels on your wheelchair have a slight squeak to them that goes off every few rotations. In Lala's case it's because she walks flat footed to keep her body straight and her head balanced. Her footsteps are heavy but muffled." Rou explained, causing them and Suu to just gawk at him for a moment in amazement.

"But that's, how-"Mero began to say, until the telling sound of repeated clacking's came down the hall, revealing Rachnee with a smile.

"It's simple when you remember he is married to a Vampire and is a Diplomat for human Liminal Relations. He probably knows much more about our cultures and biology's than he lets on, yes?" Rachnee asked with a devious grin as she walked around the table.

"Perhaps. Admitting anything on that matter however could be considered interrogation or a breach of privacy, so I cannot truly say." Rou explained as what seemed like everyone else filtered into the kitchen. "Ah, good. I've just finished making everything!"

"Papi! Papi!" Suu chimed in, causing Rou, and everyone else to look around and find her not in the kitchen.

"Ah, I'll go get her." Rachnee said as she stood up.

"Don't worry about it. I'm already up, Rachnee." Came a strange voice from the doorway, causing everyone to look there.

Standing in the doorway itself was a girl who looked roughly Kimi's age. She had a smallish chest under a simple pull over shirt and was wearing a pair of rough edged hot pants that looked too tight on her hips. She wore no socks and was barefoot, revealing her long clean legs to everyone. What grabbed everyone's attention though, was her short, blue hair.

They only knew one person with blue hair, but . . . it couldn't be right?

"Um, who are you and how did you get in here?" Miia asked as nicely as she could, though the way her tail was poker straight told more than her expressions did.

"That's not nice!" The girl said with a pout that did not match her age. "It's me, Papi!"

Everyone looked at her for a second before they let out a collective- "What!?"

 **Authors note: And the next chapter is up. Yes, we have Kimi, and Papi undergoing change at the same time. Mwuahahhaa.**

 **A while back I asked if people were interested in me doing an original story of monster Musume, similar in concept to Monster Yurisume (it rocks. if you haven't read it, go start doing so now.) the answer was a unanimous yes, so I do have one question though.**

 **Do you want a short sneak peak of how I'm fiddling with it to appear at the end of a future chapter?**


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